when you take me in your arms & drive me slowly out of my mind
by InvisibleDisaster
Summary: Wrenna. Partly a 22-year-old Hanna living with Wren in NYC, partly flashbacks (or well, past sequences) how they got together which sort of pick up from season 4 episode 2 (but A isn't really relevant) featuring the bird from that very episode. Because it obviously deserves to be in a fic. (Rated M because I need creative freedom, okay)
1. Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me

_Hey therrre c: So, I really wanted to start writing again & I noticed there just aren't enough Wrenna fics around - so here you go. Quick warning, there won't be too much Wrenna for a while in this chapter but that won't be the case in future chapters of course. A very special thanks to my dearest Ashley (who can be found under MileyDreamer on here) for being a great inspiration (especially when it comes to the whole bird thing) and beta reader, you go girrrl c: _(Btw, I have absolutely no idea what it's actually like to work at Calvin Klein, so please don't think I'm trashing them or something; obviously I don't own PLL or anything else, I'm a poor little fucker. And this is rated M for creative freedom mostly, we'll see how much the story will actually live up to its rating in the future)

* * *

Yet another morning had broken in the infamous city that never sleeps. A blonde girl in a perfect fit Calvin Klein dress and horrifyingly high heels got into a yellow cab, a Starbucks in hand. Three years and a half had passed since Hanna Marin kissed her hometown Rosewood goodbye to pursue her dream, working as a fashion designer in a true fashion metropolis. From time to time, a slight and tender breeze of nostalgia mixed together with a fair dose of homesickness caused her heart to long for the familiar streets of Rosewood, Pennsylvania and everything and everyone she had left behind. But this breeze never turned into a storm. After living with your mother for your whole life, it is a big decision to move out. Let alone moving to an entirely different state. But it was an act that Hanna needed to do in order to begin her new life. Hanna loved the busy streets of New York, the charming vibe of the city, the smell of the air which was so entirely different to the suburban scent of her hometown, the eccentric cafes, and the designer shops where she never needed to shoplift sunglasses. Being somewhat financially secure at the age of 22 was something she was particularly glad about, even though she didn't exactly owe that nothing but her own achievements but also to a certain someone she didn't leave behind when she left to start a new life, a certain someone without whom she might have given up and gone back home a long time ago, a certain someone who even managed to bring a slight beam of light in the darkest of days.

The cab stopped. Time for work. Hanna let a small sigh escape her lips before she stepped out and paid the cab driver. It wasn't that she didn't like her job but working at Calvin Klein hasn't been turning out to be the fairytale she had expected. Whatsoever, this was her first real job in the fashion industry, therefore she probably just didn't have the slightest clue what to expect from the beginning of this career. As frustrating as it could be at times, it certainly had its perks – at least she got to take plenty of free clothes back home with her. As soon as she had set food in the building a fuzzy little ball of fur was bustling around her legs. Not a day passed without the constant in fear of tripping over Gigi, her boss' obviously hyperactive Chihuahua. The girl made her way to her desk, desperately hoping today would be the day she would finally be able to contribute something of value to the brand but instantly brushing that thought away again. She would probably just waste the day playing Fashion Designer on Facebook instead of being an actual fashion designer.

The hours went by but the day drug on seemingly endless. After her offer to help out with a design for the new collection had been rejected by her boss, without even letting her finish her sentence, it was absolutely certain that Hanna had to lighten her mood with a little shopping tour during her lunch break, a very sufficient method for her, well known among her colleagues.  
"Time to add some unnecessary but fashionable pieces to your wardrobe?" asked Jessica, whose desk was right opposite hers.  
"Yep. Not too good for my credit card but exactly what I need for my soul." The tall brunette with the well-groomed bob and the oversized eyes that seemed to be too huge for her fragile looking face had quickly become one of Hanna's friends in New York and probably her best friend from work.  
"I'd love to join you today but I'm drowning in work."  
"Too bad," Hanna sighed and grabbed her purse, "at least I won't have to fight over a flawless pair of Louboutins if I should happen to stumble across one."Jessica threw a quick pout in her direction. "Oh hey, could you please do us all a favor and pick up some more dog treats? Otherwise our little sweetheart Gigi will have driven us crazy by the end of the day."  
The blonde rolled her shiny blue eyes but agreed. She wasn't willing to deal with the "little rat on Speed" either after all.

A rather unsuccessful shopping spree came to an end, with nothing but a tiny Victoria's Secret bag tangling from her wrist. Hanna went towards the pet shop to save her colleagues, as well as herself, from an unbearable day in the constant company of Gigi. She was just about to pay for the treats when a large, silver, antique looking cage in the corner caught her eye. In it was a huge grey bird whose breed she still couldn't keep in mind, that she knew she'd never seen before but who looked oddly familiar. No one else seemed to pay any attention to the beautiful, but sad looking creature. Hanna couldn't keep her eyes off it for even a minute.  
"That'll be $3.94, please." The cashier brought her thoughts back to earth.  
"Excuse me, how much is that bird in the corner over there?"  
"That one?" The cashier asked, seemingly surprised. "It belonged to some old lady. Her son sold it to us after she had passed away. It's been here for two months and nobody has ever expressed any interest in it before."  
Hanna had started to stare at the bird again, barely paying attention. "I want it. How much?"

"Hanna Marin has come to save the day!" the blonde cheered as she was walking to her desk, tossing the bag of dog cookies in Jessica's direction who caught it with both hands just before it hit her iMac.  
"You really are a lifesaver, darling. Success?"  
"Hardly. Nothing but a slight dose of Victoria's Secret today." Hanna fake-rolled her eyes and set the bag as well as the cage down on her desk, causing the bird to coo a little.  
Jessica couldn't believe her eyes. "Okay, what?! Care to explain?"  
The blonde sighed. "Don't ask. It's a long story" Her friend raised an eyebrow. She wasn't the type of girl who let a topic of this kind slip away from her just like that. "A bird like this is kind of the reason my boyfriend and I got together, so I couldn't bring it over me to let this fellow rot in a corner of that shady pet shop any longer, okay Jess?" Jess was obviously still more than interested in hearing the whole story but Hanna wasn't exactly in storytelling mood once she noticed the pile of documents that had appeared on her desk over the break. Despite the concentration required to work on them, they couldn't keep her mind from wandering off and reminiscing.

* * *

"Hanna, should you plan on letting this bird stay under my roof just one more night, I'm afraid you'll wake up to find it with its head ripped off" Ashley Marin yelled, looking fairly disheveled.  
"I'm sorry, mom. I didn't get more than two hours of sleep either, so believe me when I tell you there's nothing I'd appreciate more than having this thing out of here as soon as possible but guess what, there aren't any takers. I honestly have no idea why." The girl yawned and took a sip from her cup of coffee. "Don't you think Caleb might want to take it in? He seems like the type to me" Her mother suggested.  
"He hasn't returned yet" Hanna shrugged. She really didn't want to think about her absent boyfriend any more than she already did to keep from feeling neglected and miserable. She picked up her phone, still taking sips from the mug in her other hand. "Look mom, I'll go through all of my contacts today and I promise, no, I _swear_ I will have found a place to stay for Tippi by tonight. Now leave or do you want to be late for work?" The girl threw her mother a weak smile before she focused on her iPhone again.  
"Alright, sweetie. But your lack of sleep isn't a valid excuse to stay home, okay? Go to school."  
"Of course, mom." Hanna rolled her eyes when Ashley pecked her cheek and rushed out of the door.

Now, who would possibly say yes to the offer of a free bird? The blonde skipped through her contacts with a lack of motivation. What about Lucas? He seemed more like the type to her than Caleb, definitely. He didn't pick up. Damn. Maybe he had changed his number. Well, if she saw him in school, she would surely make him an offer unless she had found another taker by then – as if that would actually happen. The girl continued to scroll down. _Nope, no, __**definitely**__ not. _For no obvious reason, she stopped at Wren's number. She hadn't talked to him in forever, or so it felt, and had absolutely no clue if he even liked birds but something made her feel that he was the perfect candidate_. "A bird for the boy with the birdlike features" _she thought to herself and pressed the green "Call" button.

She was just about to hang up when she heard a raspy voice mumble a tired "Yeah?" on the other line. _Very thoughtful of you, Hanna. Sure, go ahead and call people you haven't spoken to in ages early in the morning, that's classy and polite. Shitshitshit.  
_Obviously embarrassed, she began to stutter: "Wren. Hi. Uhm. It's Hanna. I'm, uhm. So sorry for calling so early." Okay, this was just getting worse and worse. She covered her eyes under her palm, wishing she could rewind time.  
"Oh, Hanna? Wow, hi. Uhm, I'd love to have a chat with you but I just got home from a 48-hour-shift… two hours ago, so I'm afraid I could really use some sleep right now." _Well done. You woke him from his first two hours of sleep after two days of being awake. You deserve an award for this.  
_"Oh, I'm terribly sorry, I… you know, I really just have a quick question for you and then you can go back to sleep. Do you possible want a bird… in your life?" _What even?!  
_"…A bird?" She could hear him yawn over the phone. "Like, what kind of bird?"  
"Uhm… well… it's big and grey and rather talkative" _What an accurate description. _After a short silence Hanna was absolutely certain Wren had just fallen asleep on her and she didn't dare to wake him again.  
Then he finally responded: "Yeah, alright. "  
Hanna felt as if she had never been more relieved in her entire life. "Really? Oh my god, that's great, I'm so sooo grateful I- " _If he wasn't too tired, he'd probably step away from his offer now. You're really at your best today, Hanna._ "I'll drop her off at yours after school, okay?"  
"Sounds good. I'll text you my address then." So she hadn't screwed up too much. Thank God.  
Feeling more than just relieved, Hanna was suddenly back to her usual, bubbly self. "Okay, perfect. I'll see you then. Oh, and Wren?"  
"Yeah?"  
"Goodnight." She tried hard to hold back a giggle.  
"Well, good morning." Wren let out a slight chuckle. "See you later." He yawned once again, and then hung up. Hanna's mood had gone through some drastic changes throughout their conversation and eventually she ended up being captivated by some sort of slight happiness she hadn't felt in a long while.

School went by awfully slow and ultimately, the blonde was overwhelmed by tiredness and therefore barely paying attention to neither her classes nor her friends half of the day. Once there was only one more lesson to survive, her mood lightened up and she was suddenly wide awake again. The reason for this midday wake-up wasn't quite clear to Hanna, or at least she didn't want to believe it to be that simple. Why should seeing Wren make her feel this way? It just didn't make even the slightest bit of sense to her. Or did it? She didn't bother pondering the thought for any longer, and cheerfully put the bird cage inside her car once she got home. For no obvious reason, she decided to leave a note for her mom, as if she expected she wasn't going to be home before the next morning. Well, she could miss the last train after all.

It didn't take Wren long to open the door which Hanna was once again fairly glad about as people had started to stare at the crazy girl carrying around an immense bird cage – or at least that's how she felt.  
"Good morning, Mr. Kingston" she exclaimed cheerfully, a huge smile on her face.  
"Good afternoon, Ms. Marin" Wren replied grinning "Please do come in" He took the cage from her whilst she stepped in and eyed the bird curiously. "So this is going to be my new companion. Does it have a name yet?"  
"I think it's Tippi or something like that. She used to belong to Alison's grandma" Hanna explained, looking around with an equal curiosity. So this was how a doctor lived. Wren's apartment didn't look too special but it appeared to be somewhat tidier than it actually was due to being well organized. Only now she noticed that there was music playing and her eyes fell on high end equipment next to a massive music collection – tall, dark shelves that covered almost an entire world to be more precise.  
She turned to face Wren, who had made room for the cage on a nightstand for now. "Is that Broken Social Scene?" she asked, obviously excited.  
"It is, indeed. It's 'Sweetest Kill'" Wren flashed her a boyish grin. "Do you like them? Most people I know haven't even heard of them."  
"Well, _I do_ know and like them. Would you mind me sticking around for a while? Your collection has me captivated a bit, to be honest" she asked, pointing at the shelves behind her.  
"Oh, please. Be my guest. I'd be more than pleased to have you around" the young man announced and left for the kitchen. "Can I offer you anything? Snacks, water, alcoholic beverages?"  
Hanna was more than glad to have found a place to hide away for a bit and the fact that there was one of her favorite bands playing in the background almost made her feel at home. "I'm always up for some underage drinking," she laughed and started to study the shelves more closely.  
"Well, in that case, please allow me to offer you some whiskey"  
Wren returned with a full bottle and two glasses. Soon the two were sitting on the floor beneath his music collection, discussing their favorite Broken Social Scene song, their favorite Arctic Monkeys album, the best song on The Temper Trap's "Conditions" and their favorite Zulu Winter lyrics. Through this in-depth conversation, Hanna studied the shelves of music which were almost too neatly organized ; vinyls at the bottom, CDs in the middle, tapes in the top shelf, everything in perfect alphabetical order.

Time flew by and with every minute that had gone past Hanna felt more comfortable in the company of the boy with the lovely British accent. Hanna mentally noted that she found it to sound even more beautiful than she had remembered. Once they had gone through another record, the girl started looking for a new one but soon stopped at a bad she had not expected to find.  
"I certainly didn't expect you to share my like for She & Him," she said teasingly and took another sip from her glass.  
Wren laughed and shrugged. "Might be a rather soppy band for a guy to like but I couldn't care less. Have you heard their latest album yet?"  
Hanna shook her head no.  
"Oh, we ought to change that right now. Their version of 'Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me' is to die for" He grabbed the CD and leaned over her to reach the stereo which caused her to soak in his scent. He smelled a bit like this typical hospital smell mostly caused by disinfectants but absolutely not in a bad way.

The first song started to play and a moment of awkward silence emerged which Wren eventually broke by bringing up a topic Hanna had rather not thought about.  
"So… how is Caleb?" he said in a slightly bitter tone.  
The girl had to take another sip of whiskey before she answered with a shrug. "Out of town. Family business. It's been a while since I've last spoken to him." Wren looked down at his glass, nodding slightly but Hanna was almost certain that a slight smile had escaped his lips right after she had finished her last sentence. "How is your love life then?"  
"Uhm, basically non-existent?" he laughed and poured himself another glass.  
"How is that?" she asked curiously. He seemed like the kind of guy to her who had no trouble finding a girlfriend. After all, he was fairly handsome. Especially with his hair as disheveled as this and in this light blue shirt with the rolled up sleeves and the first two buttons unbuttoned. Her emotions seriously started to confuse her now, therefore she barely managed to pay attention to his answer.  
"I work a lot and I just can't seem to find the time to go out and meet someone new." He shrugged and sipped on his glass. "Everything alright?"  
As if she had been awakened from a light slumber, Hanna's eyes jumped from his chest back to his eyes. "What? Yeah, yeah, I guess I was just caught up in my thoughts for a moment" she stuttered, trying hard to hide the embarrassment that was growing inside of her.  
"And I guess we ought to get that bottle away from you" Wren grinned and put their glasses and the half-empty bottle aside just when the song he had been wanting her to hear all night started playing. "Oh, there we go. I consider this a pure masterpiece."

Once the first verse started they got lost in each other's eyes.  
Once the second verse started there wasn't more than an inch of space left between them.  
Once the reprise started they had lost all of their inhibitions and he brought his lips closer and closer to hers, and they started to kiss right in time for the chorus.  
Even though they had kissed before, it had never felt as right as it did in this very moment. Soon they were completely caught up in each other, having seemingly forgotten about the rest of the world. After breaking another passionate kiss to receive a reassuring look from Hanna, Wren began kissing down her neck, paying special attention to a spot not too far from her collarbone, causing her to let a soft moan escape her lips, one hand buried in his hair, the other one further unbuttoning his shirt.

A moment later he had picked her up and set her down on the bed which was only a few steps away where they slowly got rid of each other's clothes, only breaking eye contact for seconds. When there wasn't even the tiniest layer of clothing left between them, Wren carefully pushed her down onto her back and in response her lips immediately found his again. Their tongues and bodies seemed to be in perfect sync, as if this wasn't the first time they were going this far. Overall, it was a night of tenderness and, at the same time, overwhelming passion, pleasure and pure satisfaction of a kind the girl had never experienced quite like this before.

After deep and peaceful slumber Hanna woke up the next morning with her head on Wren's chest and their fingers intertwined. She didn't have a hangover and the past night certainly wasn't a blur. She had been fully conscious throughout the entire affair and therefore there was no one else to blame but herself. Her guilty conscience took over and the fact that she couldn't bring herself to regret what she had done, not even the slightest bit, made her feel even worse. She got up as quietly as she could and got dressed but she only managed to put on her underwear when Wren opened his eyes.  
He sat up and studied her curiously. "So… what's going to happen next?" he asked, a hint of doubt in his eyes.  
Deep inside, there was nothing she wanted more than to come back to bed and stay with him forever but instead she swallowed hard and said, sounding somewhat doubtful and unbelievable: "It'll be best to pretend this never even happened"


	2. Guilty Filthy Soul

_Hi therre. I'm sorry this took a while but school's still a topic for me and my last exam's on Wednesday, therefore I was a slight bit busy. **Thanks to everyone who followed, favourited or even left a review! You guys are the cookies in my Cookie Dough ice cream :***_

_Also, if you get where the whole bird name reference thing is coming from, you deserve a price... the gift of knowledge perhaps..?! Okaaay, that's it. I hope you'll enjoy this chapter, guys._

* * *

Chapter 2 – Guilty Filthy Soul

Around 6 pm the locks of a massive, black cherry wood door clicked open. Moments later the familiar sound only stilettos produced on the hardwood floor filled the large, but nonetheless cozy, 14th floor apartment located in Manhattan. Beams of sunlight hit the living room floor through the tall windows, and dosed the modern furniture mixed with vintage elements of the room. The eclectic décor seemed to have found just the right balance between shaggy comfort and sterile cleanliness, creating somewhat of an enchanted atmosphere.

Wren had been napping on top of the covers of the king size bed in the bedroom, but had opened his eyes as soon as he heard the first hints of his girlfriend's arrival.

And there she was, standing in the doorframe only seconds later, chanting her usual "Hey there" in a certain way no one else could seem to copy.

"Hey there, love" he mumbled into the pillow, slightly turning in her direction, "I'm sorry, those first-years are probably the most unskilled bunch that has ever gotten through med school, and therefore terribly messing with my sleeping schedule"

Even though he couldn't see the grin on her face, he immediately sensed it in her voice. "Are you going to be half asleep every time I bring a bird into your life, then?" Hanna held up the cage with the majestic parrot inside triumphantly. As if the bird had heard her drop its name it cooed in response. An utterly surprised Wren sat up and simply stared for a moment , unable to make the thoughts racing around in his brain come out of his slightly hung open mouth.

"Hanna… are you being serious right now?" He got up and took the cage from her, studying the animal closely.

"Yep" The girl nodded. "I just bought her. She looks so much like Tippi, doesn't she? I couldn't bear the thought of leaving her in that shady pet shop."

No further explanation was needed. Wren couldn't have said no if he had stumbled across this beautiful creature either, not after everything they owed to its predecessor.

"Yeah, she does indeed. We ought to name this one Hedren."

"Obviously." Hanna giggled and took out all the bird essentials she had purchased and nonchanlantly tossed her Victoria's Secret shopping bag onto the bed, while her now wide awake boyfriend was busy looking for an appropriate spot for their new roommate. "You aren't mad that I've just brought her here without asking your permission, are you?

"Of course not, darling" he shook his head, the boyish grin Hanna absolutely adored lighting up his face "as if I was actually capable of being mad at you."

The blonde bit her lip, grinning. Hanna supplied Hedren with the rather cheap bird food she had bought for her, which the bird didn't seem to be too pleased about.

"And what do we have here?" Wren asked sheepishly, finally noticing the pink bag on the bed.

"Oh, that isn't meant for your eyes just yet." She smirked teasingly and made it disappear in a drawer.

"Oh, come on. Really now? Is that fair?"

"Yeah, really" she moved close enough to press her body against his, "I might as well just save it up for a special occasion. I'm still undecided." Having said that, she wrapped her arms around his neck, looking up at him, barely an inch of space left between them.

He wrapped his arms around her waist in response. "Well, I'm sure I'll be pleased, no matter what the occasion."

Seemingly having waited for that answer, Hanna pulled him into a passionate kiss, bound to escalate in an instant. After four years the relationship hadn't lost the slightest bit of passion, in fact their mutual attraction had increased. The never-ending tension between them almost seemed odd to some of their acquaintances. In a matter of seconds their tongues were battling playfully, their movements in perfect sync, making it obvious that they knew a thing or two about their significant other's preferences. Nonetheless, there was a certain roughness in the way they touched this time. The constant variation between roughness and romance was probably what kept things spicy.

Wren broke the kiss and turned her around in the very second she let go of his neck, to quickly unzip her dress. He slowly kissed down her back the more it was revealed. Hanna sucked in a breath, a habit caused by pure excitement she hadn't managed to give up in four years, slid it off and turned back to her boyfriend.

Seconds later they were locking lips again on their king size bed, both of them in just their underwear. "Too bad we didn't try to make this be more like our first time" the girl managed to say in between, causing Wren to pull away and study her face curiously "that would've been kind of epic, I guess."

"Certainly, but you're the one to blame." He bit his lip before his eyes fell on her delicate collarbone, his lips forming a smirk. "There's still a certain part of it we could honor nonetheless"

Hanna understood immediately and tilted her head to the side, making it easier for him to caress the exact same spot right above her collarbone he had paid special attention to on their very first night, on the floor beneath the tall wooden shelves which contained his music collection. The exact same shelves were now located in their bedroom because they both agreed that putting them up there instead of in the living room was an appropriate use of irony. She closed her eyes, a soft moan escaping her mouth when his lips brushed against her skin. Simultaneously, he pressed her closer and skillfully unhooked her bra , having one hand on her back.

Once he was pleased with the result, his lips left her collarbone area to explore further down and soon they were once again completely lost in one another, experiencing a kind of pleasure and ultimately, satisfaction their first night together definitely could not be compared to.

"Oh God, Wren" Hanna was almost whimpering when he pulled out of her and lie down on his stomach in exhaustion, glancing over at her. Their heavy breathing merged into laughter once they had been looking each other in the eye for a while. "Handling the situation like the mature adults we are" Wren proclaimed, turning to lie on his back. Hanna's laughter resolved into a giggle as moved closer and rest her head on his chest. "Well, you're supposed to be the mature one of us, you're five years older than me. I have to admit I expected more from a guy with a doctorate"

"I'm terribly sorry I don't live up to your high expectations, but I wasn't aware that you value maturity that highly" he planted a tender kiss on her forehead and wrapped his arm around her fragile-looking body. He couldn't help but feel the need to shield her from all potential sources of harm he could possibly imagine. And he would, every minute of every single day.

Smiling shyly, the blonde buried her head in his chest, letting out a deep sigh before she mumbled, "You have no idea how much I actually love you."

"You're right, I probably don't. I just hope you don't love me any less than I love you, I could see that causing some problems in the future" he chuckled, stroking her back lightly.

"Oh, shut up" she giggled, jokingly hitting his chest_. If there was such a thing as perfection, it had to be this moment, _she thought to herself. She could be so overwhelmed by gratefulness for this guy she had been dating for 4 years. The guy who had encouraged her to pursue her dreams in NYC, the guy who had left Rosewood to be with her, the guy she could always come home to and share a cigarette with if they both had a rough day, the guy who kept her going even when all she really wanted was to hide away forever. Basically, the one person who even gave a glimpse of beauty to the darkest days. The one who made everything okay.

* * *

"Hanna…" Wren took a deep breath and sighed in between the sentence. "Look, I guess we should talk about this."

"No. No, there's… there's nothing to talk about. Not now." She quickly picked up her purse and the rest of her clothes from their places scattered around the room. "I'd better get dressed." she stuttered and rushed to the bathroom. Once she had locked the door, she sank down and sat on the cold tiles, hoping that the cool sensation would disturb the numbness she felt. She could've sworn there was heat coming from under them if it wasn't for the goosebumps forming on her legs. Trying to calm herself down with yoga-inspired breathing techniques, Hanna ran her fingers through her hair, fumbling for her iPhone in her extremely unorganized purse with her free hand. What the lock screen had prepared for her, once she had found it, wasn't exactly helpful either.

Three missed calls by the one and only Caleb. Great. How very pleasant this would've been less than 24 hours ago. Now it only made her stomach cringe even more. _Oh God. _The full weight of her guilt seemed to fall onto her shoulders only now and she was convinced that it would break her back any second. The sound of a half-whispered "Hanna, are you alright in there?", sounding more than just mildly concerned, suddenly made her snap out of it. She had to get out of this bathroom to get out of this apartment to get out of this whole situation – well, maybe not entirely but that was definitely the first step to take.

She returned a not too convincing "Yeah" in almost the same tone, grabbed her headphones and put her iPhone's music player on shuffle before she finally stood back up. To Glass Animals' "Dust In Your Pocket" she managed to brace herself and continued to get dressed. Once Florence + The Machine's "Hurricane Drunk" was playing, she was ready to check how damaged her appearance was due to last night's happenings. She looked up to the squeaky clean mirror that looked like it was about to smash the just as clean sink positioned a little off-center below. Her hair looked rather disheveled, but that wasn't much of a surprise. Neither was the fact that all of her lipstick had vanished. Her skin looked acceptable but her eye makeup was a bit too smudgy. When the song came to an end, the girl had fixed her appearance as good as she could with the supplies she had at hand and stuffed her iPhone back in her purse, all set and ready to go. But was she really? She had to be.

Wren, who had gotten dressed in the meantime, was still waiting for her at the door as she opened it, a concerned and seemingly desperate look on his face. Fearing she might lose control again, Hanna tried to avoid eye contact and quickly looked down at her feet while she was walking past him. Should she just head to the door without further a-do? That would be a terribly harsh thing to do and she highly doubted she was capable of it. Before she could make up her mind, he interrupted her in her thoughts.

"Hanna, please…I- I'm sorry for putting you in this position but-"

She had originally planned not to let the slightest bit of emotion show but now that she saw him standing there like this, all she wanted was to come back to bed with him and stay there forever. Preferably naked. Knowing that hearing him out would inevitably worsen her current state, but lacking the capacity to be as harsh and cool as she had intended, she said softly:

"No, please don't be. I put myself in that position. It's not like you were taking advantage of me or anything. I wasn't the slightest bit drunk. I knew exactly what I was doing and I still remember every detail and-," she rapidly shut her mouth in the middle of the sentence, too afraid to say something very stupid.

Wren just looked at her for a while, waiting for her to continue, but once he realized she wouldn't, he suddenly seemed to be fascinated by a certain spot on the floor. His eyes still fixed on it, he murmured: "It's just…"

He looked back up, following the invisible spot to the ceiling, and continued, "I was just hoping it wouldn't have to end like this," trying to suppress frantic laughter, as if he had come to realization how ridiculous this notion was whilst putting it into words.

Did he really have to make it even harder for her? The blonde sighed before she responded, a certain softness still in her voice: "I just really need to get home and be alone for a while. Clear my thoughts."

Wren swallowed hard and nodded, unsure whether to accompany her to the door or not. "Can I call you perhaps?" he asked when she started to make her way to the door.

"I don't think that would be a good idea. Not yet." Hanna bit her lip and turned back before she placed her hand on the door knob. "Uhm… thanks. For the bird thing. And letting me stick around."

"It was my pleasure." He stood absolutely still, seemingly having lost the capacity to move.

After letting a half-whispered "Bye" slip from her lips, she was out the door, pulling it shut behind her. It was about 8 am by now but the sun was shining surprisingly bright already. Tempted to turn back around and knock on the door she had just shut behind her, Hanna grabbed her iPhone again, intending to distract herself with music once again. It had worked before, so why not now? The very empathetic shuffle function struck her with "Guilty Filthy Soul" by AWOLNATION. Oh, the irony. At least it was a great song nonetheless. Just about to climb down the stairs, a familiar voice calling her name suddenly made her blood freeze. None other than Spencer Hastings was standing right in front of her, studying her curiously.

The brunette kept her cool but there was undoubtedly a shocked look on her face which didn't seem to be caused only by running into Hanna. She sort of looked as if she was a little kid being caught stealing from the cookie jar. "Oh, hi Spence." Hanna chimed as cheerfully as she could without sounding like what she thought was suspicious. She pulled her earphones out of her ears, while desperately going through different excuses in her mind for her presence at Wren's doorstep at such an early hour.

"Hey….?" Spencer sounded extraordinarily confused. "What are you doing around here?"

"I found a new home for Tippy, the bird." the blonde replied, forcing a smile.

"So you decided to drop her off at 8 on a Saturday morning?" Spencer asked, eyeing her suspiciously.

Hanna simply shrugged. "What are you doing here anyway?" she asked sharply, feeling somewhat… Was she jealous? No, that was simply ridiculous.

It looked like the girl hadn't expected her interrogation to backfire that quickly. "I, oh, I was just in the neighborhood and in need of some medical advice. For Toby." she added nervously.

"What would he need medical advice for?"

"His mother. ….Weren't you wearing that outfit yesterday?" _Well, shit._

"Yeah, uhm, I actually got here last night and missed the last train, so Wren let me crash at his place."

Spencer raised an eyebrow. "Oh, I see. That explains a lot. I won't take long, so why don't you join me and then we could take the train after this one together?"

"Oh, I'd love to but I should really get home now. My mom's probably worried by now." _As if Spencer believed such a lame excuse. Way to go, Hanna._

"Too bad, that would've been fun." The girls walked past each other but before Spencer rang the doorbell, she turned back around and addressed Hanna once more. "Oh, by the way, Caleb got back last night. He's been looking for you, just in case you didn't get his calls."

"Yeah, my phone was on silent. Thanks Spence. See you later."

On the train, Hanna was arguing with herself whether it would've been less suspicious to have lightheartedly agreed to Spencer's suggestion, "Guilty Filthy Soul" playing on repeat, while Spencer's next move was interrogating Wren. She had gotten into a fight with Toby last night – actually, it seemed the more found out about his mother's death, the more they argued – and, in all honesty, had had some ulterior motives for paying a visit to a certain doctor's apartment. But running into Hanna, who had somewhat of a guilt-trip vibe surrounding her, had triggered her curiosity and purged her mind of all morally questionable intentions.

Wren behaved shockingly distant toward her, completely lacking his usual flirtatious undertone. Worse, he even ignored her subtle hint when she told him it didn't surprise her that he, the gentleman he was, didn't let Hanna sleep at the railway station. Her suspicions having increased, she left him with a snotty remark about what a great boyfriend Caleb was and what a cute couple he and Hanna made.

Hanna hurried up her porch, relieved to finally have reached her house. The walk from the platform to the parking lot had been horrible. So, this must've been what a walk of shame felt like. Okay, sort of. She somehow wasn't able to actually feel ashamed about what she had done. The slight 'shame' must have come naturally with the deep swamp of guilt she was afraid she might drown in any second now.

As she put her hand on the doorknob, she sucked in a deep breath and slowly let it go. _Everything's alright. Mom won't notice anything. Because there is nothing to notice. Nothing's weird. Everything's completely normal, _she repeated in her head, over and over again, trying to calm her down before she opened the door and stepped inside.


	3. Old Friends

_Hello there c: So, I'm stepping away from my usual future/present * past layout because this chapter would've turned out far too long (as if my chapters didn't always turn out far to long for this fic somehow)_. _The next chapter is going to pick up where the past sequence of Chapter 2 stopped & I was hoping I would be able to upload it before I go to Prague for 5 days on Monday but that obviously won't be possible now. I'm sorreeeh. Also, I didn't have a chance to have someone read this beforehand, therefore I'd like to apologize for any mistakes I might have overlooked. I kind of rushed this in the end because I really wanted to upload something before I leave. So yeah, this is basically a filler. Thanks for the feedback, I really appreciate it c: Enjoy (the next chapter should be better, though)__  
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"You still owe me a story, Marin. And it ought to be a good one." Jessica exclaimed with her usual nosy look on her face, right after Hanna had sat down at her desk. Hanna laughed, shaking her head slightly. Of course Jess hadn't forgotten about yesterday's weird happenings overnight. She hadn't expected her to, either.

"What makes you even think that I'll share it with you?" Hanna replied sarcastically.

If there was one person in NYC she'd share it with, it had to be the brunette sitting opposite her. On her first day at work, Jessica had made a snotty remark about Deidra Johnson, who had not bothered to hold the elevator for Hanna and didn't even suppress a witchy snicker when she arrived five minutes late, panting, and thereby won the key to the blonde's heart. They spent their lunch break together and soon afterwards, they started meeting up outside of work, going on shopping sprees and having high school-like sleepover girl nights, mostly when Wren had to work nights and Hanna didn't want to sleep alone. In all honesty, she had never expected herself to become such close friends with somebody ever again since she had left Rosewood behind - and with it the three girls. Well, she hadn't really left them behind, they were still close friends. But none of them could just let her crash at her apartment at 3 am when she couldn't manage to stay on her own.

Jess' piercing blue eyes lit up when she noticed that Hanna had swept all of her shiny blonde hair to one side, retro-style. "Because _that_'s your hickey-hairstyle! The story must be good then. Spill. Now. Or I'll bother your McDreamy with it at lunch."

Hanna rolled her eyes. Their girl nights usually included re-watching the early seasons of Grey's Anatomy which had somehow caused Jessica to believe that the ultimate goal in every girl's life should be dating a doctor. Since had Hanna had reached that goal long ago, the brunette wouldn't stop comparing Wren to Patrick Dempsey's role on the show whereas she herself was still desperately looking for her own McDreamy. Whatsoever, the numerous dates with doctors Wren had agreed to set her up with had never gone too well so far.

"He's not my McDreamy, Jess. I thought we were passed this by now. The whole Meredith-Derek-relationship isn't exactly what we're going for."

"Right, I'm sorry. McSteamy is probably a lot more fitting anyway." Jessica teased and lifted Hanna's hair up, revealing an enormous love bite the blonde had indeed tried to hide under her hair-do. "Impressive."

Annoyed, the girl put her hair back into place. "Alright. You'll get your story. But please, help me out a bit. Why am I friends with you again?"

"Shut up. You know you love me." The girls were just about to take a little "bathroom-break" so that Hanna could spill the juicy details without any unwanted eavesdroppers – like Deidra – when her iPhone's screen lit up, giving notice of an incoming call.

Hanna's heart jumped in loops of happiness when she saw who was calling her in the middle of work.

"Oh my god, Jess, hold on, I _have_ to answer this." She pressed the green "Accept" button before she had even finished the sentence. "_Hiiiiii, Aria_!"

"Hanna, hey! Is this a bad time?" A familiar voice asked on the other line. It had been a while since she had had a chance to talk to Aria, therefore Hanna could barely retain her excitement.

"No, not at all. I mean, I'm at work right now but we can talk, that's not a problem. How have you been? How's Hollis?"

"Oh, I've been doing fine. Everything's been going well. I'm about to get my degree in literature but I'm still not sure whether I should continue and become a teacher." The petite girl let out a depressed sigh. "But what about you? How's New York? And the fashion industry? Anyone died of starvation lately? Oh, and how is Wren doing?"

"Okay, we really need to call each other more often, so that we don't have to work our way through a whole list of questions at once. I'm doing great. New York is still amazing, like I've told you before. I'm also still convinced that you would absolutely love it here. Lately, no model has died of starvation on my watch which we can consider quite a success, I suppose. And, last but not least, Wren is doing fine. I guess. It's just that he's been very busy with work these days. You see, they've assigned him to look after all these first year interns and apparently that's the most stressful work he's ever done, although I can hardly believe that that's supposed to be more stressful than surgery on a beating heart."

Aria giggled before she replied to the blonde who was still sitting on her desk. "He's a Bailey now?" Jessica whispered during the short period of silence, obviously not willing to let go of her Grey's Anatomy references just yet. Hanna only honored that question with a combination of a half-nod and an eye roll.

The brunette on the other line suddenly seemed to fall into one of her deep phases: "I don't even know why but I can't really imagine Wren going into an OR and cutting people open. And, you know, saving lives and all that. Isn't it kind of surreal?"

"It kind of is, actually." Hanna agreed. "He's sneaked me in to watch a coronary artery bypass once. It was…. incredible." Never would she be able to forget that experience.

A few months before she got this job, her life in New York wasn't all too glamorous. The girls she knew from the fashion institute were alright if you wanted company to go clubbing but that was about all they ever did. Best friend material not included. The only person she felt she could actually count in this city was her boyfriend – a fact that comforted and scared her at the same time. After all, how was she to know that they would last forever? Nothing did. Maybe he'd fall for some snotty doctor skank who was a way better match than she could ever be. Driven by fears of that kind, Hanna found herself ever so often homesick, as soon as the littlest thing awoke the most ridiculous memory of the girls or Rosewood. This time, it was the smell of her mom's perfume in Sephora. Suddenly feeling horribly lost and vulnerable, she eventually found herself at the reception of Wren's hospital, desperate to hold her tears back. With every passing second, this whole idea seemed more and more pathetic to her. What was she even thinking, disturbing her boyfriend in the middle of work like that? He'd probably be upset and think her grandma died or something. Or this would finally make him realize what a complete train wreck she was and cause him to run off with someone mentally stable.

She was just about to turn on her heel when Wren came up to her. She shouldn't have made the receptionist page him for nothing but her feeling a little homesick. God, what a terrible girlfriend she was. Now that realization actually made her sob.

"Hanna, what's wrong?" Wren grabbed her arm and turned her around to face him, sounding concerned but not as freaked out as she had feared he might be.

"Nothing, I-. I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have come here, I'm only wasting your time." She was still sobbing and feeling more and more ashamed.

Wren shook his head, softening his grip. "Just tell me what happened, love."

"Coco Noir." She sobbed and he took her in his arms immediately. "I just don't think I can do this anymore. I'm not getting anywhere here, I don't have my friends around, you're the only one I have and if you… "

"Shh, it's alright" he interrupted her, trying to soothe her, as good as he possibly could in the middle of the hospital. "Don't even think about that. You know I would never purposely hurt you, don't you?" He let go of her and lifted her chin up, so that her eyes met his.

Hanna quickly wiped her tears away. "Yeah, I know, I…I told you, I'm just being stupid. I'm sorry."

"Stop apologizing." Right after he had kissed her on the forehead, his beeping pager disturbed them.

"I'm afraid I'll have to go now, love." He sighed and pecked her on the lips. "Unless… How would you feel about watching a heart surgery?"

"Is that allowed?" Hanna asked, a slight excitement rising inside of her.

"No. But I'm sure I could sneak you in." Wren offered excitedly, running his fingers through her hair, eventually putting it up in a bun. "If you just sit in a corner in the front row, everybody's going to mistake you for Dr. Preston with your hair up like that."

Ten minutes later, Hanna found herself looking down at the OR, only separated from it by thin glass. Once the patient had been wheeled in, she felt a rush of adrenaline taking over her body, as if she was about to do the surgery herself. This was a lot better than TV. Luckily, the few other spectators didn't seem to notice her presence, probably being too engaged in the happenings themselves. Wren got to do most parts of the surgery on his own, apparently having proved to be worthy of a solo. She found it hard to believe that her boyfriend was actually down there, stabilizing someone's beating heart. All her worries vanished in an instant. Suddenly, it seemed completely delusional to her that only a few minutes earlier, she had seriously considered going back to Rosewood. This city was where she belonged and that guy reducing someone's risk of getting a heart attack later one was with whom she belonged.

Aria's voice brought her back to the present. "Really? Wow, that's so cool! I'm so jealous of you right now! … It's also kind of hot, right?"

"Oh yes." Hanna giggled. "Those on-call rooms aren't just the perfect place for a hook-up on those medical series. Anyway, how are things going with Ezra?"

She could feel the girl shrug on the other line. "I don't know, it's just… complicated." One would've thought Aria's relationship with Ezra should get a lot easier after graduation, but, well, it didn't. It was nothing but a constant on and off.

"I'm sorry, Aria. I shouldn't have asked."

"No, it's okay. It's a perfectly normal question coming from someone with a functioning relationship. Anyway, I'm actually calling because I want you to come here. Emily's swim team is competing against Hollis' crappy one and Spencer should have time to come to town as well, so I thought it would be the coolest thing if we could all have a little meet-up. You can bring Wren, if you want."

"Oh my God, that _is _the coolest thing! I'll make time, no matter how or when, I just will." Hanna could hardly sit still. How great would it be to meet up with all of her old friends in Rosewood? She and Wren could stay at her mom's place for a week and everything would be wonderful. Or maybe this whole thing could get even more wonderful? "Okay, here's an idea: How about you guys all try to get two weeks off, we spend one together in Rosewood and then you all stay with Wren and me in New York?"

Aria's voice lit up with joy. "That would be fantastic! We'll have to find a way to arrange that."

Hanna would've burst out in a happy dance, had she not heard the annoying barking of her boss' Chihuahua Gigi coming from the elevator.

"Aria, I have to go. My boss is coming. Can I call you back tonight?"

"Of course, Han. I'll talk to Spence & Em about this already, if that's alright with you."

"It sure is. I doubt that Wren would actually mind you guys staying over. Talk to you later. Bye, Montgomery."

"Bye, Marin."


	4. I don't think I can last another day

_Well, hello there. To make up for my absence, I thought I'd deliver you an extra massive chapter. Don't worry, future ones will be shorter again. I hope you'll enjoy this one, though, as it took quite some time to get done with it :S And of course, thank you all so much for your feedback, like always c: You guys are lovely :3 (I hope I didn't miss too many typos / left out words a la 'a', 'to' & 'the', it was kind of hard to scan through this mass of words again :x)_

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Chapter 4 – I don't think I can last another day

An hour had passed since Aria's phone call and Hanna was on the way to her favorite 20's-themed-café to meet up with Wren during her lunch break. Of course Jessica, whose heels were battling with the cobblestone pathway, was accompanying her as she did every chance they all had time off together. It had felt incredible to finally talk to one of her old friends again and making plans to go back to Rosewood had lifted the blonde's mood up into whole new atmospheres, but work had soon brought her back to Earth. In fact, the disapproving looks her boss threw her today made her worry about her hopeful plans. She would get two weeks off without any problems, wouldn't she? Her attendance was exemplary after all and the work they let her do, she did mighty well.

Deep in thought, she didn't even pay attention to Jess, who was cursing her new Manolo Blahniks which she had bought one size too big since hers had been out of stock.

"Do you think they'll still let me return those?" Jessica moaned, trying hard not to fall forward and out of her shoe as the heel was caught between two stones once again.

"I highly doubt that" Hanna replied monotonically, telling herself to snap out of her probably redundant worries.

By the time the girls' heels clicked on the pavement again, she had almost forgotten about every possible kind of inconvenience and her face lit up with a smile when she saw her boyfriend already waiting for them down the street. He stood, wearing a white V-neck under a black cardigan which he had buttoned up neatly, dark blue jeans and white tennis shoes, - the only thing that gave away that he was working today - and was fishing a pack of Marlboros out of his pocket. It looked like she wasn't the only one whose perfect day had come with some dark clouds hovering above it.

Shortly after Hanna started working at Calvin Klein, Wren – who had already been an occasional smoker before they even started dating – and she established a smoking ritual neither of them ever broke. She had picked up smoking after being advised to start by colleagues who considered it a great way to maintain your weight. Once Wren found out about it, and had been informed about every possible health issue that ran in her family and could be triggered by smoking, he reluctantly approved of it. But only as long as she promised she'd keep it at least as occasional as he did, which soon resulted in them deciding to only smoke in each other's presence. That again resulted in them sharing a cigarette whenever they both had a bad day, turning their bad habit into somewhat of a therapy session. They had even agreed to only consume two different kinds of brands, Wren's cigs of choice being Marlboro Reds, whereas Hanna always carried a pack of Camel Lights in her purse.

"I'm afraid I won't have a lot to contribute today because my day actually started out great at first." Hanna proclaimed before she pulled him in a deep kiss.

"That's alright, love. I have enough to complain about for both of us." He chuckled and lit a cigarette, then pulled his arm around her waist and passed it to her.

After winning one last round in the battle against her shoes, Jessica finally caught up to them. "Well, hello there, Dr. Kingston. Rumor has it you're a home wrecker." She teased, grinning at him.

He gave her an amused look and, instead of giving her a reply, directed a question at Hanna. "I see you told her?"

"Well, you know her…" The blonde replied apologetically and exhaled. "Her nosiness is unbearable"

"Nosiness can be a curse" Jess threw in sheepishly. "Now I have to live with the fact that my best friend is a cheat. Oh, Hanna." She shook her head, faking disbelief. "I wonder what that Caleb guy is like."

Hanna looking down at her feet and the frown on Wren's face made her drop the topic immediately.

"So, did Keith ask about me, by any chance?"

"Uhm…" Wren was once again having a hard time telling Jessica gently that her last blind date wasn't exactly interested. "Well, I haven't really seen him around lately. He's working on this… leukemia thing." He shrugged and glanced over to Hanna, who gave him a little approving nod.

"Oh okay. So, he's busy. That's fine." The brunette sucked in a breath and let her eyes wander through the streets, only to stop at a guy in hospital scrubs on the other side of the road, waving at Wren. "Where have you been hiding this piece of cake from me, huh?"

"Luke? He's only a first year." Wren spat out as if that made him completely undateable. "Shall I introduce you anyway?"

"I'm begging you."

Hanna shook her head, suppressing a giggle at her friend's sudden excitement. "I'll just wait her for you two, okay?"

She leaned against a post and took another drag from Wren's Marlboro, watching them curiously. Jess' "subtle" flirting was a sight for sore eyes, as always.

Suddenly, an almost too familiar voice was addressing her. "Hanna? Hanna Marin?"

She turned around and found herself looking into a pair of brown eyes she'd never forget. "Caleb? Oh my God, hi!" She stuttered, too shocked to say anything else.

Caleb smiled brightly at her and it was as if they were in high school all over again. Even the way he was dressed was still the same. Or actually, he might have gotten a bit edgier. A piercing was shimmering on the top of his earlobe, his hair was as long and shaggy as ever and the loose fitting dark grey t-shirt he was wearing under a red flannel, as well as his ripped jeans completed the signature Caleb Rivers look.

"So, you've picked up a nasty habit, huh?" He joked, pointing at the cigarette in her hand, his gaze lingering on her hands a bit longer than necessary.

"That's the price you pay for working in the fashion industry." She giggled. "It sucks your soul out and drives you to substance abuse of all sorts. But seriously, I only smoke very rarely."

"Of course you do." He replied sarcastically, looking her up and down, but not adding anything else.

"So, what does Caleb Rivers do in New York?" she asked eventually, her eyes scanning his outfit.

"Caleb Rivers works in New York these days. In IT, doing a whole lot of stuff with computers. You know, fixing them if they need a little fixing. Not exactly a surprising career choice, I guess, just like yours."

Hanna's eyes had stopped at the necklace he was wearing. She couldn't help but feel as if she'd recognize the ring dangling from it. "That necklace… that looks a lot like the ring I gave to you way back. But that's surely not the same one, right?"

Caleb started rolling the ring between his pointer finger and his thumb, foolishly smiling down at it. "Oh no, that's the exact same one. I couldn't have gotten rid of it if I tried." He took a deep breath and looked back into Hanna's shiny blue eyes. "Look, Hanna, I'm really not happy about the way things turned out between us. We've both made mistakes. We've both said things we shouldn't have said, me in particular. But I was hoping we could both get everything. Our relationship was one of the best things that have ever happened to me and maybe… How about we go out for some coffee sometime?"

Stunned, Hanna looked at him as if he was the flying spaghetti monster. Did he seriously just ask her out? Or was that just his awfully familiar scent of leather bracelets, pine and Lemon Drops filling her nostrils and messing with her mind?

"Well, uhm…" she stuttered, about to make her answer up on the go when she suddenly felt her boyfriend's arm around her waist.

"Honestly, why do I keep setting that girl up with my colleagues? One of these days, she'll definitely ruin my reputation, now that she's even going for first years." Wren frowned and kissed the top of her head, oblivious of his rival's presence. It wasn't until he had retrieved his cigarette from Hanna and taken a drag that he caught a glimpse of Caleb standing there, staring at him in disbelief, as if he was looking at a ghost.

"Oh wow. Caleb. Well, what a… pleasant surprise." He said with a bitter undertone, smiling at him sweetly and cockily at the same time, which Hanna found to be somewhat fascinating. Ever since he had reappeared at her side, bringing the scent of sanitizers, cigarettes and almonds she adored with him, even the slightest bit of confusion she had felt only a few seconds earlier seemed to have vanished completely.

"Well, I certainly didn't expect to see _you_ here, either." Caleb hissed, his body visibly tensing. The memory of the guys' last interaction popped up in the back of Hanna's mind. How was she supposed to act now? Should she just try to separate them? Maybe not. Instead, she pressed herself closer to Wren and started fiddling with the buttons of his cardigan. It was almost ridiculous how neat he looked in comparison to Caleb, keeping in mind that he was highly likely to have been drenched in blood or other gross body fluids before he got here whereas Caleb had probably only been mindlessly hammering codes into rebellious computers.

"Some of us come to stay." Wren said soberly, smirking at Caleb when he felt Hanna's shoulder press against his chest.

The blonde felt the urge to contribute to the conversation, once she felt Caleb's gaze on her. "Caleb is working in IT somewhere around her." She explained, looking up at Wren.

"For now." Caleb added. "I might as well set off to Chicago next week. I'm with this firm that'll allow me to work all across the state, wherever they need me the most. It's rather exciting and I'm as free as a bird."

"I'm sure that can be rather exciting, if that's your style. I prefer a certain consistency, you know, something that _lasts."_ Wren shrugged. "So, how long have you been in New York already?"

"About two months now. Magnificent city. I've had my very first job at a bigger company here. You know, you _never_ forget your first." Caleb announced, glancing at Hanna with a bittersweet smile on his face. _Oh no, he didn't. _She threw him a bitter look in response and took the cigarette back from Wren, inhaling eagerly. That comment came rather unexpectedly, and Hanna felt that she would need some help to get through the rest of this conversation.

Wren simply grinned at him, not even flinching, but moving his hand from her waist up to her back where he began to draw little circles, knowing that this would comfort her. "Oh yeah, I know what you're getting at. My first real surgery, for example, was a cerebral aneurysm, but once I got to do a heart transplant, I realized that neurological surgery just couldn't bring me as much joy as cardiothoracic does."

Caleb didn't look too pleased that his enemy hadn't suffered immediate defeat but instead seemed to be as cocky as ever. "So they still let you be a doctor, huh? How many people have you killed this week?"

"None, I'm afraid. In fact, none of my patients have died during or after a surgery I've performed on them myself. Sorry to disappoint you."

"Hey, it's cool. As long as you don't disappoint in other fields."

Hanna could not believe her ears. "As if." She said, more to herself than to Caleb, and bit her lip, looking up lovingly at her boyfriend.

"I guess you can trust her word in that matter." Wren smirked and took the cigarette back from Hanna for one last drag before he flicked it away. The girl took the chance to intertwine her fingers with his, much Caleb's dismay.

"Well, anyway. Being a doctor is so overrated. Long working hours and low payment for years? No, thank you. Working in IT, on the other hand, is great. And we surely know how to push all the right buttons." He proclaimed, smirking back at them. _Ew._ Hanna closed her eyes and buried her head in Wren's chest, soaking in his smell some more. Up to this day, she wondered how this slight hint of almonds didn't fade despite all the hospital smells. And why she liked those exact hospital smells on Wren so much whilst she despised them on their own.

"It gets a lot better, though." Wren said, not looking offended by Caleb's remarks. "Once you get past the low-payment-stage, you get a lot more free time as well. And those long working hours conveniently increase your stamina. Drastically, in all fields."

Okay, maybe it was time to intervene after all. "Guys, why don't we just drop it? It –" Hanna started but was simply ignored.

"Something we have to deal with all the time as well is coming up with solutions. For that, you have to know exactly how to encrypt hidden signals." Caleb ignored her. "You study the situation closely so that you'll know all the right moves."

"That's basically what surgeons have to do on a daily basis. But frankly, we're also extremely good with our hands." By now, Wren was grinning at him triumphantly.

After what had felt like hours for the blonde, her brunette friend walked back up to them with a brought smile on her face. "I'm sorry that I've kept you waiting but, oh my God, isn't Luke just the most precious-" Her eyes fell on Caleb, looking him up and down, confused. "Oh, so I'm gone for what, 5 minutes and you guys just replace me with a male brunette?" She joked.

It looked like Hanna's chance had come to stop this madness. "Well, we should really get going now." She said sweetly. "Right?"

"I guess so." Wren replied, glancing down at her before he turned back to Caleb. "It was a pleasure seeing you, as always."

"The pleasure's all mine." The addressed answered bitterly. Jessica was more confused than ever, her eyes jumping back and forth between the three of them.

Relieved, Hanna let go of her boyfriend's hand and prepared herself to go. A sunbeam fell on the ring on Caleb's necklace, causing her to feel somewhat bad for him. That was probably a leftover piece of four-year-old guilt boiling inside of her. "Bye, Caleb." She told him with a half-hearted smile, thereby replacing Jess' confusion with pure astonishment.

"Bye, Hanna." He replied, followed by a weak sigh.

* * *

Seconds after Hanna had pulled the door shut behind her, she could hear her mom's Louboutins click, the sound coming closer in an alarming pace from the kitchen. "Hanna?" Ashley Marin was calling from afar.

"Yeah mom, it's me." Hanna replied, waiting at the door for her mom to arrive. _Stating the obvious, like a person who doesn't have something to hide. Uh huh. _

Ashley walked up to her, seeming slightly worried – which was admittedly more than the girl had expected her to be. "Where were you last night? Caleb got back and he's been worried sick about you because you didn't answer his calls."

Oh great. Of course he had asked her mom about her whereabouts as well. "So I've heard." She said coolly. "I found a place for the bird to stay."

Apparently, that answer wasn't precise enough for her mom, who threw her one of her infamous demanding looks.

"And then I missed the last train, so I spent the night. And that's it. Happy now?" The blonde added, glancing over to the stairs hopefully.

Ashley paused but eventually nodded and was about to let her go when her eyes fell on Hanna's neck. "Hanna, what the hell is _that?"_ She shouted, as if Hanna's neck was covered in poo and cockroaches were feasting off it.

"What is what?" Hanna asked confused, patting down her neck, unable to register any abnormality. Only a look in the nearby mirror revealed the not-so-gross truth. Last night's little adventure had left a mark after all, and not a subtle one. Staring back at Hanna was the biggest, if not the first, hickey of her life so far. Her lips formed an O shape and her thoughts immediately wandered off to a certain guy whose apartment she had left less than an hour ago.

"Oh, _that?_ Nothing. That… that was the bird." She explained, trying to make it sound as plausible as she possibly could. "She got a bit upset on the train and before I could even blink, she pinched my neck." She shrugged and pulled her hair to the side to cover the evidence of her unfaithfulness, just about to take off to the stairs again, when her mother grabbed her by the shoulders, looking far more concerned now.

"Hanna, if anything…_happened_ to you last night, you have to –"

"Hold on, _**what?!" **_Hanna exclaimed, her voice sounding unusually strident. Was her mom seriously talking about _rape_ now? "Nothing happened, okay? Absolutely nothing. And now, I'd really like to go to my room and find something else to wear, if you don't mind. Thank you."

Having that said, she hurried up the stairs and closed her bedroom door behind her before her mother could possibly follow.

What was she supposed to do now? She definitely wasn't ready to call Caleb just yet and a shower -even though she could really use one - would only encourage her mother to believe that she was on the right track with her rape theory. Once again, she put all her trust in music to help her clear her thoughts. The only downside to that was that she had basically gone through three quarters of her iTunes library with Wren last night and she definitely didn't need to be reminded of him even more. Ultimately, she decided to put Greg Laswell's "Your Ghost" on repeat on her stereo, although she was pretty sure that she had caught a glimpse of "Three Flights From Alto Nido" peeking out of the tall shelves yesterday. For a moment, she just lay on her bed, the same old numbness overcoming her all over again. Whatsoever, it soon vanished and a tsunami wave of various emotions seemed to be crashing down on her.

She got up and stepped in front of her full-length mirror, looking herself up and down, turning from side to side, and desperately trying to find something that had changed about her. But, apart from the hickey, the same Hanna Marin that had put this outfit together on Friday morning was looking back at her. Only that Friday morning seemed to be nothing but a distant memory of the long gone past by now. The blonde picked out a new outfit and got undressed in front of the mirror, still unable to discover any change. Even her skin felt exactly the same when she ran her fingers across it. She removed her old make up just to put new one on right afterwards, all the while wondering how many shades of foundation she'd possibly have to mix to cover up the mark of guilt on her neck sufficiently. She surely couldn't try to cover it up as long as her mom was home if she didn't want to stir up her suspicions.

All of a sudden, her bodily functions seemed to be no longer affected by their former numbness, either, causing Hanna to realize that she hadn't eaten anything since lunch on Friday. She turned the music off and slowly made her way downstairs. Ashley was sitting in the kitchen, checking her mails on her cell phone, when Hanna opened the fridge, only to close it again seconds later, disappointed by what it had to offer. Eventually, she settled for a packet of chocolate chip cookies, an unusual choice her mother raised an eyebrow at. The girl took one out and carefully started to chew on it, falling into deep thought. Should she tell Caleb about it? Was it really worth risking everything they had? How come it even happened anyway? What was it about Wren that – no, she really shouldn't even think about him for now. Not even his name.

"Hanna?" She heard her mom's voice and found her looking at her with the same worried look the girl had already seen far too often for just one day. She found herself seemingly frozen, holding the cookie to her lips but keeping her mouth shut. She quickly put it back into the packet and addressed her mom, looking down at her hands.

"Mom, can I ask you a… sort of weird question?"

"Of course, honey."

"Well okay, uhm… have you ever done something you knew was wrong and you know you should be ashamed of yourself but… you just can't bring yourself to regret it?" She looked up at Mrs. Marin curiously.

Ashley opened her mouth to speak but closed it again without saying a word. When she was just about to give it another try, the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it." Hanna announced, a strange bit of hope flowing through her body when she opened the door which was replaced by undeniable guilt and nervousness when she found Caleb standing at her doorstep.

Caleb looked relieved as soon as he saw her. "Hanna, hey. I was so worried about you."

"Hi. I'm sorry, I was going to call you back after breakfast." _Liar._ She quickly put her hair to one side as a cover up. They both stood awkwardly, Caleb probably waiting for her to fall into his arms and Hanna simply clueless about how to behave in his presence.

Luckily, he interpreted her behavior the wrong way. "Look, I'm sorry for not calling you earlier but I was really, really busy. Are you mad at me?" He looked so ashamed and serious, it almost broke her heart.

"Oh, uhm… well, I was a bit mad, yeah…" He stepped inside and pulled her into a hug. Ashley walked past them, announcing that she would be going into town and that she wasn't sure when she would return. It almost seemed like she wanted them to have some alone time, Hanna thought to herself. Now, of all times. Thanks, Mom.

After Mrs. Marin had closed the door behind her, Caleb let go of his girlfriend and looked her right into the eyes. "Forgive me?" The puppy face pout he added to his request made her giggle.

"Alright. Your request shall be taken into consideration." She teased.

Caleb smiled at her gleefully. "Is there anything I could possibly do to speed up that whole process?" He smirked, his face getting closer to Hanna's.

"Well, uhm…" the blonde stuttered before his lips met hers. Suddenly, her whole body tensed and she lightly, but vehemently nonetheless, pushed him away before their tongues could touch. "Caleb, stop. I'm on my period." She announced, sounding as if the world was about to end.

Caleb gave her a confused look "Oh, uhm, okay..? Sorry?"

"It's okay." She said soberly, as if her reaction hadn't been the slightest bit irrational.

"Can I come around this evening anyway? Just to hang out." He made sure to clarify, afraid she'd start kicking and screaming otherwise. "I should better get home now and unpack my bags. I haven't really had a chance to do that earlier because you-" He looked down at his feet.

"I'm sorry." Hanna said softly and squeezed his hand. "Of course. Just drop by whenever you want."

"Great." Caleb smiled at her and kissed her on the cheek before he left.

Okay, now that she had missed her chance to tell him straight away, she might as well keep her little faux pas a secret. That's what it was after all, wasn't it? Nothing but a silly little mistake. Happens to the best of us. Some time was all she needed and then things would get back to normal between them. She went back upstairs to finally take a shower – and brush her teeth.

Meanwhile, Wren had spent the day being tormented by a similar confusion, pondering his feelings towards a certain blonde who had more or less stormed out of his apartment this morning. Unlike her, he came to the conclusion that he couldn't just go on like this. In fact, he was pretty sure that he was on the verge of falling for her – or maybe he had already fallen for her at this point. After all, he had at least had a mild crush on her back when she'd kissed him at Radley. To sum it all up, he wanted to be with Hanna Marin and frankly, he wasn't willing to let her slip away all over again. About ways to win her heart he had no clue whatsoever.

Frustrated, he sat down on the side of his bed, facing Tippy's bird cage, closely examining his new 'roommate'. He had supplied her with water and food earlier but that was the only interaction they had had so far. Well, he didn't have time to worry about a parrot now. To cope with the stress building up inside of him, he lit up his first cigarette in two weeks and inhaled. As soon as the smoke had left his lips, the bird cooed and said something that sounded a lot like "Bad."

Wren raised an eyebrow. Would it be extremely awkward to start a conversation with a bird that could actually croak decent words in response? Oh well, whatever. He took another drag and exhaled once more, causing the bird to repeat itself. Astonished, he licked his lips and finally responded. "I know, Tippy. I'm a doctor, I don't need you to tell me that. But come on, I'm not in the best state of mind today." The bird eyed him curiously and made a sound similar to a giggle.

"Wow, thanks. You're very understanding." Wren chuckled and put out his cigarette. "Maybe I should just turn into a crazy bird person and let you be the only girl in my life. How does that sound, huh?" Tippy shook her head in response. He felt more and more like he was having an actual conversation. Oddly, this realization scared and comforted him at the same time.

After a short pause, he decided to carry on. "Well, what am I supposed to do then? How am I supposed to ever get the girl?" He sighed, running his hands through his hair. Tippy made her signature dialing sound that had significantly shortened her stay at the Marin's house in the first place.

Wren shook his head. "No Tippy, I can't. I promised not to call her, so that would definitely only backfire." He studied the parrot for a while. "Hey, do you want to fly around for a bit or something?" Tippy nodded, making him smile in disbelief. He checked whether every door and every window was closed before he put his hand on the handle of her cage. "Alright, but you have to promise me not to try and escape, deal?" The bird nodded and croaked something that sounded a lot like "Deal" to him. The young man opened the cage and watched the bird fly around his apartment for a while until it eventually landed on his bed, cooing and pecking at a shiny little silver bracelet Hanna must have lost the previous night. He quickly took it from her and decided to try to lightly stroke down the parrot's head with one finger. Tippy closed her eyes and cooed happily. "Tippy, it looks like you've just found me the key to her heart. I'd say we're friends now, if that's alright with you."

Caleb had turned up at Hanna's place at around 3 pm and tried his best to explain why he had just gone mute for such a long time. The girl half-heartedly paid attention but soon zoned out, only keeping the conversation up with occasional "I see"'s, "No, that's totally understandable"'s and "It's okay. Really" 's. It wasn't until she remembered that he had claimed to have a surprise for her when she had opened the door for him that she tried to focus again. Eventually, they even fell into enjoyable, mindless chatter, just like they used to before he went away and before she – well, enough of that.

"Okay, are you ready for the big surprise?" Caleb laughed and fumbled for something in his pocket.

"My body is ready." Hanna announced, giggling. Okay, she wasn't exactly deserving of a present of any sort but hey, denying it would be way too suspicious.

"Good." Having that said, Caleb pulled out two concert tickets, smiling from ear to ear. "Tadaa!"

Hanna clapped her hands in excitement. Going to a good gig with her boyfriend was exactly what she needed. "Awesome!" She exclaimed. "What band is it?"

"The Naked and Famous. Front row. Friday night. Just admit that that's the best thing that has happened to you all week."

The smile faded from Hanna's face. "Oh wow, Caleb… that's so sweet and thoughtful of you but… uhm… I really don't like that band. Not enough to get through one of their concerts at least."

"What? Come on, Hanna, you're kidding me, right? They are epic. Who doesn't love The Naked and Famous?"

"Correction, who even _likes_ The Naked and Famous?" The girl replied. "The only one I can think of is Emily. I'm sure she'll go with you if you ask her… Sorry." She looked down at her hands, feeling guilty because she was being so ungrateful.

The song on the stereo changed to one Caleb had never heard. "So, you don't like The Naked and Famous but you like this?" He mocked.

"Yes, of course. " Hanna answered, sounding slightly offended. "This, Mr. Rivers, is a fabulous band at work. And to be fair, I guess I like 'Punching in a Dream'. "

The doorbell rang and Caleb just shrugged. The blonde hurried to the door, thinking her mom might have forgotten her key.

Instead, she found Wren standing in front of her, nervously tucking on the same light-grey jumper she had seen him wear when she left his apartment this morning. She bit her lip for a second, trying to think of an appropriate reaction but the slight breeze that carried his scent over didn't exactly help. Fearing it would get too awkward, she broke the silence with a soft, half-whispered "Hi."

"Hi." Wren replied in the same tone, smiling weakly. "I'm just here to – You must've lost this." He fished the bracelet Tippy had found in his bed out of his pocket and held it in the girl's direction. Hanna's eyes jumped from his to the bracelet to her wrist which indeed seemed a little more naked than usual.

"Oh yes, that's mine. Thanks." She tried to sound as neutral as she could and took it from him. Struggling to put it on, she just stood there, awkwardly fumbling with the clasp while Wren was watching her until he couldn't take it anymore.

"Let me help you, okay?" Not waiting for a response, he stepped closer and took the bracelet from her. Seconds later it was dangling from her wrist again, just like it had never been anywhere else. For an instant, his fingers had brushed against her skin, sending shivers all the way down her spine. _Oh please, Hanna, get a hold of yourself. _Her hair had stopped staying in place as neatly due to the breeze and Wren's eyes widened when he caught a glimpse of her neck.

"Was that…?" He pointed to himself instead of finishing the question. The girl just nodded slightly. "Oh wow. Well, uhm, sorry." He mumbled, unable to take his eyes off of his achievement.

"It's alright." Hanna shrugged, absentmindedly running her fingers over the hickey. An awkward pause emerged and the song in the background suddenly seemed to play a lot louder than before.

Wren didn't seem to be too willing to just leave and broke the silence. "That's Saucy Monky, right? I've seen them live in Cali but hardly anyone seems to know them around here."

Hanna's eyes lit up. "It is. The song's 'The Acrobat'. Tell me, are they as amazing live as I expect them to be?"

"They are probably even better." They smiled at each other for a moment before he continued. "Look Hanna, if you could just-" He stopped and backed a few steps away, back to the spot where he had originally been standing, when he saw Caleb head in their direction from the kitchen.

"Oh hey. Wren, right?" He stood next to Hanna and reached his hand out for a handshake.

"Uhm yeah, that's me. And you're Caleb, if I'm not mistaken?" Wren tried hard to keep a neutral expression and, after a moment of hesitation, shook his hand awkwardly. "So, I was just about to get going."

"Oh Wren, hold on." Hanna stopped him. "Do you like The Naked and Famous?" Caleb looked at her, raising his eyebrows.

"Not really, to be honest. 'Punching in a Dream' is quite alright but that's the only song I like." He shrugged, not looking as confused as Caleb would've expected him to be. He had talked about music with Hanna for what felt like hours after all.

"Same here." Hanna smiled excitedly.

Caleb fixed his eyes on the floor. "They're really not a bad band."

"Yes, they are. End of discussion." The girl said and Wren had a hard time figuring out whether she meant that as a joke or was dead serious.

"Well, I really need to go now. You know, I have lives to save and… stuff." He told them, awkwardly taking a few steps backwards, almost running into Ashley who was about to make her way up the front steps.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry." he proclaimed immediately.

"Oh, it's okay. " Hanna's mom replied, convinced that she'd seen him somewhere before.

He quickly directed a half-whispered "Bye" at Hanna who replied in the exact same way before he hurried to his car.

Hanna's eyes remained on him until his car had gone down the road and was therefore out of her sight.

"What a nice young man. He seems oddly familiar, too." Her mom was thinking out loud, shooting Hanna another suspicious look.

"Yeah, that was Wren. The guy who's now stuck with the bird of hell. Well, he's a doctor, so you might know him from the hospital or because of the Hastings." Her daughter elucidated dryly and closed the door behind her mother.

So much for pretending that nothing ever happened. Well, shit.


	5. You're such a fugitive

_Hello again c: Thanks for all kinds of feedback, be it reviews or follows. And to the 'guest' who reviewed & probably won't be reading this: Thanks for the compliment & I'm actually going to write other PLL fics soon, so maybe you'll find a ship that suits you then, but please (& other people obviously agree with me on that matter), just don't bother reading and reviewing this if this ship disgusts you so much. It's not like the description of the story could have tricked you or something (also, hopw is Wrenna disgusting? It's not like I'm letting Hanna hook up with Emily's dad or something. And they were likely to happen for a few episodes at least) Furthermore, I consider this website to be a place where your unlikely ships come to life, so why would I care that Wrenna isn't going to happen on the show anymore? Anyhow. This one turned out rather long again. But before I finally let you read in peace, I have a little question for you. So, I'm going to start writing a PLL/Suits crossover because THERE ARE NONE YET, OMG, THIS HAS SO MUCH POTENTIAL. Excuse me. Anyway, it is going to be connected to this story and the main protagonist will be Spencer this time. So please tell me, would any of you like to read it? I'll probably start anyway but I'd really like to hear what you think about this, nonetheless c:_

_Okay, hope you enjoy this chapter c: (btw, Hanna should finally be going to Rosewood in Chapter 7, in case anyone's patiently waiting for a reunion of the girls)_

* * *

Chapter 5 –You're such a fugitive but you don't know what you're running from

The sun immersed Central Park in a soft, welcoming light on this cozy Saturday morning in April and Hanna Marin and her friend Jessica McCourt were taking one of their pre-shopping strolls, Starbucks fraps in hand. The last time they had been there was on St. Patrick's Day which just so happened to be Jess' favorite holiday to celebrate. She was born in Northern Ireland to an Irish father and a New York born mother. But the family moved back to NYC when she was 4, therefore she never got confronted with a lot of Irish culture. Nonetheless, she had acquired a Northern accent she pulled off from time to time, usually around Wren, their UK origins being something they quickly bonded over – leaving Hanna slightly jealous, if she was being completely honest – or at parties and the urge to show off all of her Irishness during the internationally popular Irish holiday.

The two girls had been stumbling through the park in a drunken haze, eventually making their way to Lenox Hill Hospital at around 5 in the morning, to pay Wren a little visit in the ER. Everybody deserves a little partying after all. Whatsoever, Dr. Kingston decided to sneak them into the long line of drunkards and helped them sober up for work with infusions at secrecy –as far as that was possible, with an intoxicated Hanna trying to make him spend the night with her in her hospital bed. A hot blonde shoving her tongue down your throat and suggesting to make a baby -right here, right now- even catches the attention of the busiest colleagues after a while.

Thinking back, Hanna was a bit surprised that her behavior hadn't brought her into any trouble. She had at least slightly embarrassed him after all. But then again, they never fought. They had a way of dealing with problems of all kind that always seemed to work out for them. It wasn't too surprising that they hadn't talked yesterday's happenings over for too long either. The sudden appearance of a wild Caleb in New York might not have occurred before, but it was nothing that they couldn't choose to hold off on dealing with any more than they really needed to.

Once the girls reached Hanna's favorite Chanel store there was no time to ponder anymore as she quickly became far too caught up in this year's Spring collection. Jess was okay with casual chatter until they were searching the racks for hidden treasures at Ralph Lauren and she slyly tried to bring up the happenings she had interrupted the day before, all the while nervously chewing on her lip.

"So, that Caleb guy yesterday…"

Hanna immediately threw her a disappointed look, and the brunette quickly switched the topic when they were queuing at the checkout.

"Anyhow. Rosewood! Are you excited? I wish I could join you guys but someone's got to keep the madhouse running." She graced Hanna with her best puppy face. The blonde couldn't help but giggle.

"I wish you could join us, too, Jess. Or well, me at least. It doesn't look like Wren's going to get the week off." She sighed while handing her credit card to the cashier. "Oh well, maybe it's for the best."

"What? Why?" Jessica asked confused, hurrying out of the store after her.

"It's just… I'm worried about the girls." Hanna bit her lip, stepping into the nearest Gucci store. "I really hope they won't give him a hard time when they're staying with us."

"Why would they even do that?" Jess raised an eyebrow, picking out a mint green day dress for Hanna's Rosewood trip. "Does that perhaps have something to do with a certain Caleb?"

"In one way or another, I guess." Hanna shrugged. "They all were Caleb fans when we were dating and they all got along fairly well. I suppose Spencer and him were sort of friends,actually. But I doubt that he's Spencer's reason for being Wren's biggest opponent of all of the girls. She has plenty and they are all better than this one."

The blonde laid her eyes on a light pink pencil skirt and hurried in its direction, leaving Jess rubbing her forehead. "Okay, you'll have to help me out with the names again before they come here. I wouldn't want to embarrass myself."

"As if you ever did." Hanna laughed, searching the rack for her size.

Jessica simply ignored her remark and continued nonchalantly. "Okay, so there's Aria, the one you talked to on the phone. She wouldn't like him because…?"

"Because she has a problem with homewreckers. But I guess she likes him best of all the girls. She's generally a very understanding person." Hanna stated, holding the skirt to her waist in front of the tall mirror, doused in fluorescent light.

"Okay, so she's the cool one." Jessica decided, nodding slightly. "Then we have Emma… uhm no, Emily, right?"

"Yeah, Emily. She's quite the tolerant type as well, probably because she's into girls. But she really likes Caleb. But oh well, she's unlikely to cause problems either, to be honest. They got along quite well before we were dating, so maybe she's over it by now."

"But then we still have Spencer, don't we? What a name." Jess rolled her eyes. "I don't think I'll like her."

"Oh no, I'm sure you will." Hanna protested and snatched the dress from her hand, heading to a dressing room with a matching pair of shoes. The brunette followed her and stood outside.

"Well then, tell me why she wants to be a little trouble maker."

Hanna let out a sigh behind the curtain. "It's Wren's fault. First of all, he was engaged to Spencer's sister Melissa who eventually caught him kissing Spencer. Later on, he'd keep trying to get together with her, but she was dating Toby most of the time then. I wonder how life has turned out for him. Anyway, I don't know, I suspect that she still had a thing for him when he stopped paying attention to her, so she feels that he hurt her pride or something."

Jess didn't respond for a while, needing some time to progress all the information. "Hold on… okay, it's official. Wren is such a manwhore." She fake-gasped.

"Oh, shut up." Hanna hissed, trying to sound as if she was joking. In reality, Wren's past with the Hastings' somewhat upset her. The fact that Spencer had kissed him before she had made her shiver from jealousy and what kind of drug was he on when he decided to put a ring on Melissa Hastings? She couldn't even imagine how dull and annoying she had to be in bed. Ew. Now she really got the shivers.

In Sephora, whilst looking for the perfect lipstick for the swim meet, Jess decided the time had come for another try. She glanced at Hanna like a puppy that had just peed in the corner of the living room, although everybody had believed her to be domesticated by now. "Can we _pleeeeease_ talk about yesterday's Caleb situation? Pleasepleaseplease. What did I miss because of that Luke guy?"

"Oh right, 'that Luke guy.'" Hanna raised her eyebrows suggestively. "How was your date last night?"

The brunette shrugged, her eyes lingering on a redhead who was trying out different Yves Saint Laurent powders, covering her little black dress in what looked like fairy dust in the process. "It was alright. All he talked about was how he didn't pass out when this guy threw up three cups full of blood and how awesomely fascinating Dr. Kingston is. But apart from that, it was lovely." She let out a sigh. "Who knows, maybe I'm just not destined to get my own McDreamy." Her eyes jumped back to Hanna. "But don't you think you've gotten my mind off of the most important topic of the day. Go ahead. I want details."

"Fine." Hanna moaned, comparing MAC's Russian Red to Ruby Woo on the back of her hand. "So, I was waiting for you two and all of sudden, Caleb came up to me. Completely out of nowhere. We had a little chat, small talk and all and well, I think he was trying to ask me out. Then Wren came back and they basically banned me from their conversation and it eventually seemed to turn into a bitchfight over who is, like Wren would say, 'the better shag'" She told her soberly, her fingers making quotation marks in the air.

Jess' jaw seemed to drop right into the MAC bronzer she was about to try out. "Oh my God, the one time I leave you on your own for a minute… So, who won?"

"I guess Wren. You sort of interrupted the battle." Hanna giggled.

The brunette joined her, both their giggles transforming into full blown laughter. "Honesty hour, who actually _is_ the better shag?"

"You'd insult my intellect if you thought I was dumb enough to leave the better shag for the worse shag." The blonde bit her lip, grinning, and decided to go for Hot Gossip instead.

Meanwhile, Dr. Wren Kingston had just finished off one of his usual bypass surgeries and therefore found the time to text his girlfriend that he wouldn't get the week off to accompany her to Rosewood. He had mixed emotions about that, seeing as he enjoyed visiting Hanna's mom with her. However, having the three girls stay over at their apartment for a week would probably exceed his recommended dose of their company already. He certainly didn't mind having to hang around Spencer for no more than one week.

Just when he had pressed 'Send', he heard the chief physician call his name a few steps away. Wren quickly put his phone away, turned around and straightened up.

"Dr. Rubinstein." He greeted the gray-haired man who seemingly should have retired a decade ago.

"Oh, Dr. Kingston. How lucky I am to run into you here. Dr. Donovan and I have a proposal to make you'll surely be more than happy to take into consideration." Right on cue, Dr. Donovan, a middle aged man of a small stature with neatly trimmed red hair and incidentally Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery, appeared next to him.

"We've both realized what a talented Cardiothoracic surgeon you are, Dr. Kingston" Dr. Rubinstein continued. "The results of your surgeries are outstanding. In the three and a half years you have been employed at our facility, you haven't lost a single patient. Let me assure you, you have a blooming career ahead of you and we would be more than pleased to have you reach the top here at Lenox Hill. But frankly, it might take years until you could reach a position you deserve here. Therefore, Dr. Donovan and I want to offer you a job at one of our partner hospitals in Chicago, the St. Claire's. You would be promoted to chief resident as well as head of the cardiothoracic department there within a year. So, how does that sound to you?"

Wren couldn't help but gasp. This was certainly the kind of offer one could consider 'an offer you can't refuse' – without the risk of swimming with the fishes if you did refuse nonetheless, that is. He cleared his throat, hoping he'd be able to find his voice to answer. "Dr. Rubinstein, I am… wow, I am more than honored to hear how highly you and Dr. Donovan think of me and I have to admit, your offer has certainly left me speechless for a moment. But I'm afraid I won't be able to move to Chicago."

"What? Why? Don't be stupid, Kingston." Dr. Donovan finally spoke up. "I would've killed for an offer of that kind back when I was in your position. What could possibly keep you here in New York?"

"Well, my girlfriend has a job here and-"

"Oh, _your girlfriend._ Seriously, Kingston? Girlfriends come and go." Dr. Donovan cut him off mockingly and Wren was almost certain that he wasn't exactly popular amongst the ladies. "Or do you intend to put a ring on it anytime soon?"

Wren hesitated for a split second, sorting his various thoughts and emotions out as quickly as he possibly could. Why hadn't he considered this before? Or had he?

"Maybe I am indeed about to."

* * *

The weekend had seemed to be never-ending, bitterly wanting to punish Hanna for all the mistakes she had ever made. One of the perks of Caleb's return was that she had a valid reason to avoid the girls over the weekend. All of them were more than understanding when she texted them about wanting to spend time with him instead of meeting up with them at The Brew. One of the disadvantages of Caleb's return was him actually wanting to spend the weekend with her. Hanna tried hard to remember how she usually behaved in his company and to act as natural as possible which turned out to be a lot more effort than she had expected. But she wanted this to work, after all, didn't she? She wanted things to go back to the way they were before she decided to be a slut and screw this other guy, whose name she didn't even allow herself to think of.

Caleb had not quite given up on getting her to accompany him to the Naked and Famous concert next Friday and therefore decided to turn her into a fan-in-the-making at least. As soon as 'Punching in a Dream' came on, Hanna was too busy trying to keep her thoughts from wandering off to the loveliest British accent she had ever heard, bringing a breeze of sanitizers, almonds and hair gel with it, to even pay attention to another song. 'Young Blood', her most hated The Naked and Famous song, brought her back into the kitchen and she declared that she could never like this band enough to see them live. Eventually, they seemed to be heading back to their old, carefree ways. But whenever she believed Caleb was trying to make a move on her in any way, she excused herself, wanting to be left alone for a while to deal with her imaginary 'period cramps'.

On her own again, she pondered over her current situation some more. It would definitely still take some time for her relationship with Caleb to be normal again but they were headed in the right direction. She should probably hurry up, though, seeing as she couldn't be on her period forever. Would it help if she just told him the truth after all? No, surely not. The blonde sighed and rolled over to her other side on her queen size bed. She wanted to just stop thinking for a while but she didn't dare to put music on this weekend. The only guy she was allowed to think about was Caleb. She tried to remember what kissing him was like but she couldn't. Like, the real deal kind of kissing, with tongue and all. She allowed him to peck her on the lips throughout the weekend, afraid she might raise further suspicions inside of him otherwise, but it had been weeks since they had really kissed. Friday's kisses on the other hand seemed to be engraved inside her brain, playing over and over on repeat, leaving her lips tasting like the whiskey that had been involved and feeling the softness of a certain other guy's lips pressed against them. Glancing down at her wrist, she felt the same tingling sensation she had felt when her bracelet was returned on Saturday all over again. _God, just snap out of_, _will you?_ She was slowly but surely getting impatient with herself. Annoyed, she decided to go to bed early, suddenly worried about the next day and the long due confrontation with dearest Miss Spencer Hastings.

Moments after Hanna had slammed the door of her Mercedes shut, Emily was hurrying in her direction. "Hanna! Hey! So, how was your weekend with Caleb? Aren't you so excited that he's back?"

"Morning Emily." Hanna chirped, rocking a fake smile. "Of course. It's so great to have him back." She swallowed hard when she saw Spencer and Aria heading towards them. "You know, I should get to class. I still have to discuss this paper with Mr. Fitz. I'll see you guys later." She announced and hurried up the steps before Emily could protest.

Ezra was more than surprised to see Hanna in his classroom that early, wanting to discuss her book report. She didn't seem to be too interested in what he had to say about it but he just continued anyway – it was his job after all. After he had agreed to letting the girl stay in the classroom already since the lesson would start in five minutes, he cleared his throat and casually threw in a question that had been burning in the back of his mind for a long time while Hanna was setting her purse down next to her desk. "So, is Aria doing okay?" He hadn't managed to come up with a more subtle way of asking, no matter how hard he tried.

"What?" The girl replied, having been deep in thought. "Aria? Oh, yes. I guess so. Why?"

"Oh, I was just wondering. Is she perhaps… uhm…"

"What? Seeing someone else?" Hanna teased. Ezra nodded, looking down at his feet.

"Not that I'd know of it." Hanna gave him a reassuring smile. She was convinced that Mr. Fitz still had feelings for Aria and who knows, maybe she could get them back together? Making another couple happy should make up for the bad karma that cheating on her own boyfriend had brought over her.

"You know, maybe you two should just take the time and have a nice conversation. I can't make any promises but maybe there's a chance for you to get back together. That's what you want, right?"

Ezra shrugged helplessly as the bell rang, and Aria strode in with the rest of the class.

The rest of the day passed impeccably fast and before Hanna even knew it, lunch time grinned her right in the face, with a suspicious Spencer waiting at the table just to stare her to death. The blonde sat down next to Emily, facing Aria, but feeling Spencer's glances on her coming from the right nonetheless. Paige joined them for a moment and seeing her and Emily together seemed to make Aria's heart melt.

"You know, I kind of miss having all this. I want what you guys have." She pouted, looking at them.

"Aria, maybe you should sort things out with Ezra." Hanna suggested immediately, eager to do some good.

"I don't know. Maybe. I just really need a man in my life again." Aria sighed, looking down at her food.

"Oh Aria, I wouldn't be so sure about that." Spencer spoke up for the first time. "Men can be a lot of trouble. Isn't that so, Hanna?" She smiled at her sweetly.

Hanna swallowed hard, afraid she might choke on her fries any minute. "Excuse me, Spence, what?"

"Oh, you know. When Caleb was gone, you wouldn't have had to feel terrible for weeks if you weren't dating him." _Yeah right. As if you were talking about that._ Hanna threw her a bitter glance.

"Relationships have their good and their bad sides." The blonde shrugged and proceeded to eat. "How come you're so anti-boyfriend today? Everything alright with Toby?" She tried to sound as compassionate as possible but she was sure that Spencer noticed the hidden undertone.

"Of course. It's all good."

"Good to hear."

Paige excused herself from the table and moments later, Caleb sneaked up on his girlfriend.

"Hey, babe." He said smiling, wrapping his arms around her from behind.

Hanna couldn't help but shutter for a split second, feeling Spencer's knowing gaze on her.

"Hi. You really shouldn't sneak up on me like that." She breathed heavily, trying to explain her reaction. "I wasn't expecting that."

"I'm sorry." He took a seat next to her. "I just thought I'd come over since I haven't seen you all day." He pecked her on the lips and the girl tried her best not to flinch awkwardly in front of Miss Hastings.

"And, since you're still not cooperative, I've decided to take your advice. So, Emily. I have an offer you can't refuse."

Emily was more than pleased to be going to the Naked and Famous concert with Caleb this Friday and Hanna was more than pleased that that matter was all sorted now. Spencer eventually left the table when Toby came up to them to talk with her. He spent so much time at Rosewood High despite not being a student anymore, he could've just stayed in school.

Prior to the last class of the day, Spencer caught her alone in the hall and quickly shoved the blonde into the girl's room, double-checking every stall to make sure it was really just the two of them. Hanna stood with her back to the wall, feeling awfully trapped – as if Spencer was a Doberman, waiting for her to make a wrong move to bite one of her limps off.

"Did you tell Caleb that you've slept with a certain British doctor last Friday night?" She asked her, sounding as if they were having nothing more than a casual conversation.

"No, why would I lie to him?" Hanna shot back with a bitter sweet smile on her face.

"I don't see why you would. Or why you would lie to me. So, nothing happened between the two of you?" Suddenly, it dawned on Hanna that she had no idea what Wren had told Spencer about them. But he wasn't the type to just spill their secret like that. Or was he? Frankly, she didn't know him well enough to be certain but she just couldn't imagine him betraying her in that way.

"Of course not. He insisted on having me sleep in his bed when I missed the last train and he spent the night on the couch." Hanna stated dryly.

"Naturally, he would insist on that. He's a gentleman. As long as he isn't shoving his tongue down your throat, that is." Spencer smirked. "How come you missed the train anyway? Did you tell us you'd get rid of the bird right after school?"

"Yeah, well, we hung out together for a while. It's not like it's illegal to talk to a guy once you get a boyfriend." Hanna rolled her eyes at her.

"Oh, so you just decided to stay at his place to 'hang out' up until the depths of the night?"

The girl shrugged. "We lost track of time. Things like that happen when you're having a good conversation."

Spencer's eyes were sparkling, making her look more interested than ever. She was probably sure that she was about to make Hanna's desperate attempts at self-defense tumble to the ground any minute now. "So, what did you guys talk about?"

"Music, mostly. What, do you want me to recite his favorite Zulu Winter lyrics for you to prove that I'm telling you the truth? God, Spencer, I thought we were friends! Friends don't treat each other like criminals when they suspect that one of them might have made a mistake. Friends believe each other and let it go before they make a fool of themselves." Hanna hissed and stormed out of the bathroom, leaving a speechless Spencer behind.

Back in her room, the girl plopped down on her bed and stared at the ceiling. Things were looking up between her and Caleb now, weren't they? And Spencer's face when she made her stop her little interrogation was absolutely priceless. She found herself laughing to herself until, completely out of nowhere, a thought she had brushed away for days now, hit her like a bullet in the head.

She had chosen to stay with Caleb on Saturday morning already; but she had also told Wren on the very same morning, just an hour earlier, that she'd need some time to think before she could make up her mind. But her decision was final already, so why hadn't she told him yet? She should finally let him off the hook. Maybe that would make things easier, too. She grabbed her iPhone and quickly found his number but she wasn't able to press the 'Call' button. Mentally cursing at herself, she threw her phone onto her bed. You were supposed to learn from your mistakes. "I live and I learn", right? Well, apparently she had slept through the lesson in which life had taught her what to learn from this mistake. Unless the only thing she was supposed to pick up from it was that she was a selfish, coldhearted bitch. She buried her head in her pillow, desperately wanting to just go back in time and force Tippy onto some geek at school on Friday.


	6. Pretend & Descend (Part I)

_Hello there :3 I'm sorry, I know it's been quite a while since I've updated but I have a legit reason for this delay. So, I've actually been working on this chapter for over two weeks now because I realized I still had so much to say about Hanna's past before I let NYC-Hanna head back to Rosewood and I got kind of caught up in this. When this chapter reached 19 pages whatsoever, I had to stop and I am not going to divide it into three parts, let it be a pretty little trilogy basically._

_So yeah, this is the first part, set in the present and omfg, it's a sex chapter, so that this fic will finally live up to its rating for once. I don't think I'll write a lot of those, though, I'm a horrible sex writer. The (twice as long) flashback (or well, the main part of it) is already finished as well and will be uploaded later today or tomorrow because I don't feel too good about uploading 14 pages without having someone read through it before I do. _

_Now, thank you guys for your reviews & well, frankly, should I get more reviews that are trashing this pairing, I'll see myself forced to delete them because - and apparently you guys agree- it's getting somewhat tiring. (so yeah, 'guest, please don't read this chapter, it might not be good for your health. SPOILER ALERT, there may or may not be a tiny hint of Haleb in the upcoming Rosewood chapters but honestly, you should just stop reading this story. Maybe you'll find something that suits you when I get to publish other stories, alrighty?)_

_And before I forget it again, a massive thanks to MileyDreamer for all of her support and assistance I have received from her so far and please, if you're open minded enough for a somewhat unexpected pairing, check out her new story "Good Girls Do Bad Things Sometimes" (which is, in fact, linked to this fic in one way or another)_

_Alright, once again, sorry for the delay, sorry for this super long author's note, sorry for this failure of a chapter, but please, try to enjoy it anyway :)_

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Chapter 6 – Pretend & Descend (Part I)

"Alright, great. No, why would he? Oh come on, it's only a week after all. Okay, just drop by when you feel like it, it's not like I'm starving or anything. See you, Jess."

One week later, Hanna was sitting on the massive table in her well-lit, commodious and barely used kitchen with her feet on a chair, a sitting position she had always preferred to any other. She had just gotten off the phone with Jess, who was going to come over with pizza to help her pack for her week-long-trip to Rosewood, when she heard her boyfriend open the front door.

Wren had announced he had something to tell her about – nothing other than his job offer in Chicago. Pondering it was something he had tried to avoid, telling himself there was no way he would leave Hanna alone and he definitely could not make her leave New York with him. With every passing day, the thought grew in him that it might be best to, at least, let Hanna know about the proposition.

Finding her waiting for him, eager to hear what he had to tell her, brought him back to doubting his decision immediately. What was the point in telling her anyway? It wasn't as if he was even considering going to Chicago. What if she told him to go? She could end up lecturing him about her having been far too selfish the past years and how it was her turn now to stop him from missing a great opportunity. He certainly didn't know how he was supposed to deal with that kind of response, so why take the risk?

"Hey, love." He tried his best to make the smile he gave her look carefree and kissed her on the cheek, sitting down next to her.

"Hi." The blonde smiled brightly, biting her lip. "Jess is going to come over sometime today to help me pack. She'll bring pizza, so I doubt you'll protest?"

"Everybody's welcome as long as they bring pizza." He smiled weakly, his eyes fixed on the squeaky-clean floor. "I can't believe I'll be stuck here on my own next week." The only one who had ever had to spend a night alone in this apartment was Hanna when he had to work nights – and even then she'd try to crash at Jessica's place or have her come over, not being the type of person who could handle being on her own all too well. The couple hadn't been apart since they moved in together, except for one week in which they visited their families at the same time, being unable to choose only one to pay a visit to together.

Hanna giggled slightly. "At least you'll have Hedren. Since you're the one of us who can hold up an entire conversation with a parrot for over an hour, you should be good to go." She studied his expression curiously before she continued. "So, what did you want to tell me about?"

"Oh, right. Uhm…" He brought his eyes back up to meet hers, wondering if they had always been as shiny and blue as they were in this very moment. "It doesn't really matter."

"Oh, come on, Wren." Hanna laughed and grabbed his hands, bringing herself closer to him. "Just tell me."

A flicker of desperation crossed Wren's eyes and instead of parting his lips to respond, he suddenly let go of her hands, brought her face closer to his and kissed her deeply. It all happened in an instant, but despite the surprise she immediately kissed him back without the slightest hint of hesitation. His kisses felt more vehement and longing than usual, but she certainly didn't mind the sudden change of topic. The blonde had been hoping they'd find the time for a carefree hook up in privacy before she left town only to return in the company of the three girls one week later. In fact, she had been desperate to feel his skin pressed against hers, to feel him inside of her, to feel a kind of incomparable pleasure that she couldn't even think about without getting a bit excited once more, before she had to leave.

Wren's hands wandered down to the hem of her top and he broke the kiss to take it off quickly, making her realize where they were still located. "Right here?" She breathed, astonished. For a moment, she was convinced that he looked relieved before he answered her with a smirk. "Yes, right here."

Their lips found their way back to each other, their tongues eagerly picked up where they had left off. Hanna started slowly unbuttoning his shirt, eventually sliding it off his shoulders while Wren successfully unhooked her bra at the first try, all the while not breaking the kiss. The formerly squeaky-clean kitchen floor was now covered in half of their clothes and Hanna's mind suddenly seemed to be filled with doubts.

She pulled away and was just about to suggest moving this to the bedroom after all when Wren started taking turns at nipping and kissing down her neck to her collarbone, causing the only thing escaping her lips to be a soft, surprised moan. Despite the shivers that slowly started running down her spine, she decided to place a hand on his chest and apply just the right amount of pleasure to push him lightly away.

"Wren, please…" She bit her lip, waiting for him to look her in the eyes again. "I think we'd be better off taking this to the bedroom."

"And why should we do that, love?" Seemingly amused, he grazed her sides with his fingertips.

"Well…" Hanna found herself searching for somewhat acceptable arguments. "Our bed is a lot more comfortable."

"Comfort isn't necessary for what I was going to do to you." He gave her his best innocent look and proceeded to kiss and nip down her torso, soon enough reaching her breasts, his eyes never leaving hers.

"But…oh, please…" Words didn't come easy to her as she was trying to suppress the tension that was all the while building up inside of her half-naked body. "I just don't think this is a good idea." She stumbled quickly.

Astonished, Wren stopped and looked back up at her, his hands gripping her waist on both sides. "Hanna, come on. I just thought this could be fun." He wasn't exactly willing to give in just like that, the thought of making her his right at this exact spot having grown on him.

"I'm sure it would be." The blonde admitted and kissed him deeply, removing his hands from her waist and holding them in hers instead. "But let's not give it a try today, alright?" Smiling seductively, she got up and waited for him to join her.

Once he stood back up as well, she let go of his hands and victoriously turned to head to the massive door of their bedroom, when she felt Wren lightly grip one of her wrists, holding her back. In an instant, he had her pinned against the table, playfully grasping both her wrists by now, giving her a look that made her insides melt together into nothing but a boiling mass. He pressed his body so closely against hers that there was not even the slightest chance for her to move.

"I'm sorry, love, but it would be a shame to let this opportunity go to waste." He breathed against her lips and let go of her wrists, his hands travelling downwards, only stopping to caress her breasts before they found their way to her skirt. Far too turned on to protest, Hanna watched him slide her skirt up to her waist, revealing her black lace panties.

Her lips stayed parted and she lacked the capacity to hold back any kind of response to his touches, too surprised that she wasn't equally in charge of the situation for once. Wren teasingly ran his fingers up and down the inside of her thighs, flashing the boyish grin at her that originally made her fall for him. Seconds later, one of his hands had found the way to her panties, slipping under them, while the other one was moving up her lower back, holding her in a steady position pinned onto the table.

Hanna didn't dare to move when he started stimulating her clit with his thumb; too afraid he would stop and keep the overwhelming pleasure from her. As if he had read her thoughts, he stopped abruptly, making her whimper for more. There was no way that he hadn't noticed how wet she was, how badly she needed him to bring her some relief. Too proud to beg, she decided to glare at him instead, making him struggle to contain his laughter.

"Oh God, love." He chuckled, shaking his head. "Just stop with that face."

"Well, stop teasing me, then." She hissed, sounding almost too serious.

Wren had quickly collected himself and was back to smirking slyly. "I'm sorry, Hanna. It was never my intention to tease you." Before he had finished the sentence, he had slid her panties off and flicked them over his shoulder. Ostensibly obeying by not wasting any more time, he took off his pants as well before he finally touched her again to unzip her skirt. He lifted her up a slight bit to remove it and slowly lifted her fully onto the table top, carefully pushing her down so that her back was lying on the cool, massive wood. He bent over and, once again, lightly grasped her wrists to hold her steady and placed his lips around her right nipple.

Biting her lip hard, Hanna attempted to regain control over the various squeaks and moans that escaped from her mouth but it was all in vain. All of the licking and sucking and teeth gently brushing against this sensitive spot seemed to be getting the best of her and she finally let go of her last remaining bit of resistance. She arched her back and when Wren moved on to her other breast, she was convinced that she was on the verge of losing her mind. Pleased with her reaction, he let go of her wrists and started kissing down her body again, moving his kisses lower and lower. Dangerously close to his target, he found himself interrupted by the blonde who was afraid she couldn't take any more delay.

Hanna decided it was time to end her passivity and to gain at least some control over the happenings. She sat up, making him face her by doing so, placed her hand on his temple and brought her lips to his ear to whisper seductively: "Look, if you don't put your cock in me right about now, I'm going to have to finish this without you."

She licked her lips, glancing down at his clearly visible erection before she checked his eyes for a response. When she received an astonished look in return, she slowly slid her other hand down his chest, lower and lower, until she had reached the elastic band of his boxers.

"Are you sure?" he gasped, his eyes following her hand.

"Oh yes, I am." The blonde purred and let her hand disappear under the fabric, slowly stroking down the length of his penis, the contact with her fingernails making him wince. She stopped just as abruptly as he had before and moved even lower, gently kneading his balls. She loved how the tables had turned and started thinking of ways to give him a blowjob from her current position to tease him some more but she didn't get the chance to try it.

Wren swallowed hard and pulled down his boxers, and Hanna immediately wrapped her arms around his neck, anxious for what was about to come. Without further a-do, he entered her, filling her completely and making her gasp before he pulled back out of her. Her muscles tensed when he slammed into her again and again and she found herself automatically pushing her hips up against his in perfect sync. Moaning his name, she threw her head back when another wave of pleasure hit her, before she fixed her eyes on his again. Being face to face like that made the tension almost unbearable and she climaxed far too soon for his liking, causing him to continue until she had reached another mind blowing orgasm and he finally emptied himself inside of her. He had discovered all of the hot spots that made her cum years ago already; therefore, she had never had to find herself unsatisfied before.

Once he had pulled out of her and collapsed on the nearest chair, Hanna struggled to steady her breathing, her heart pounding at an alarming pace. She looked over at her boyfriend who was breathing just as heavily, and he flashed her one of his boyish grins when he caught her staring. He collected all the clothes he could reach from his position and handed hers to her.

Wren looked towards Hanna in a glance; the kind of longing glance that a prince would catch his bride's eye with, the kind of look that would give any girl the shivers to receive, the kind of look that is in fairytales. Prince Philip surely glanced at Aurora in the same fashion multiple times. This look that Hanna was currently on the receiving end of; this look was the look that a groom offers his bride as she walks down the aisle towards him, a look of pure love and adoration.

Hanna slid closer to him to have him help her with her bra and pulled her hair up, holding it in a makeshift bun in one hand. She turned her head slightly to one side and looked back at Wren over her shoulder, her long eyelashes acting as veils to cover her eyes. From the corner of her eye, she watched Wren as he brushed his hands against her to put that stubborn article of clothing back in its rightful place. Her eyes darkened, in never ending lust for the man that she loves. It doesn't matter, the acts they performed mere moments ago, there's still a current of electricity between them. All that's needed is a spark to make them ignite, and Wren's hands brushing against the sides of her ribs were acting as the rubbing of two sticks to try to start a fire. Hanna shivered and bit her lip playfully before breaking the strangely comfortable silence that had emerged between them.

"So, was that what you wanted to tell me?" She giggled, letting her long, wavy blonde hair cover her back again.

After a moment of hesitation, a flicker of doubt crossing his eyes once more, he nodded, smirking at her like a naughty schoolboy. "I guess so. Message received?"

"Loud and clear." She turned around to face him after putting her top back on and pecked his lips softly, helping him into his shirt. "I think we should have conversations like this more often."

"That's a wish that I will gladly grant you." Too afraid he would get lost in her baby blue eyes for a moment, shining brighter than the color of the Manhattan sky outside their apartment; he quickly looked back down and watched her button up his shirt.

Neither of them wanted to be away from the other one for the next week any longer, the thought of being apart seemed surreal and far, far away, until the doorbell rang and brought both of them back to reality.

Hanna quickly hopped off the table and slid into her skirt, having Wren, who was only wearing his boxers and his half-unbuttoned shirt, zip it up at the back for her instantly. They both got up and he continued getting dressed while Hanna headed to their front door to let her best friend in.

"Pizza delivery guy is here! You can either pay $1000 or you can spend a hot night with me in a cabin in the Hamptons." Jess wiggled her eyebrows suggestively and stepped inside, carrying an oversized pizza carton.

"Where's your lover boy at, and why isn't he rushing to my side to carry this shitty thing for me like the gentleman that he usually is?" The brunette rambled and was just about to make her way to the kitchen when Hanna interfered.

"How about we hang out in the living room this time?" She motioned to the door on the opposite side, and then basically dragged Jessica to it. "Wren will be right there, he just has to finish something first." She didn't even bother to make up a better explanation and made her friend sit on the couch, when Wren strolled into the room, still buttoning his shirt properly. He looked awfully disheveled for his usual neat and tidy self and Hanna was suddenly convinced that she probably looked like a complete train wreck. She hadn't bothered to check her reflection in the nearest mirror before she got to the door – very unusual for Hanna Marin, come to think of it – and she hadn't managed to find her panties in time, thanks to Wren just carelessly tossing them around the kitchen earlier.

She considered rushing out of the room to fix that problem when she noticed Jessica's eyes on her, jumping from her to her boyfriend and back again. Her guest sniffed the air dramatically and let out a gasp. "You guys have been shagging, right? It's in the air. You smell like intercourse, you nasty little sluts."

She burst out laughing when she caught a glimpse of Hanna who was rocking her best caught in the act face and squirming uncomfortably, still longing to run off to her underwear drawer. Wren simply shrugged, apparently unmoved by her accusations, and helped himself to a slice of pizza. Jess was just about to take another bite of her slice as well, when a disturbing thought seemed to occupy her mind.

"Oh my God, it wasn't on this couch, was it?" Her eyes widened in alarm.

Wren kept ignoring her but wrapped his free arm around his girlfriend, drawing soothing circles on her back once again.

"Nope. In the kitchen. On the table." Hanna snapped, annoyed. "And since we're having a little kiss and tell session, I have no clue where my panties are." She crossed her legs awkwardly and flashed her friend a fake smile.

Right on cue, Wren produced her black lace panties from his pocket and held them out to her. "I was going to give you those in a little more… private moment." He stated apologetically and Hanna quickly snatched them from his fingers, slipping them on in less than a second. Fully dressed at last, she rested her head against his chest and the three of them burst out laughing.

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to be such a nosy cunt. I'm just so sexually frustrated, since we're having a little kiss and tell session, and you guys don't make it any easier for a lonely single girl in her mid-twenties." Jessica pouted. "I just want what you two have, but I can't seem to find the right guy." She sighed and grabbed another slice of pizza, chewing on it halfheartedly.

"Maybe that's because to be qualified to date you, a guy is supposed to be some sort of A-list surgeon." Hanna giggled, looking at her from the corner of her eyes.

"Well, surgeons are great. I mean, just look at him." The brunette pointed at Wren with her pizza slice, and he flashed her his best grin. "I might have to steal him from you while you're gone."

"As if you possibly could." Hanna teased, pressing herself closer to her boyfriend. As excited as she was to be spending a whole week in Rosewood, she would equally as much miss being around Wren. She hadn't even packed all her bags yet and still, she could hardly wait to bring her friends back to this city, to this apartment, to this certain guy who would be waiting for her.


	7. Pretend & Descend (Part II)

_Hello again & welcome to part two of my pretty little chapter trilogy. This one's rather look, I'm sorry about that. There's a lot of Mona-Hanna going on but it's still very important for the story. I hope you'll like it c:  
_

**_~OH AND THIS IS A FLASHBACK/PAST CHAPTER (just to avoid any possible confusion)~_**

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Chapter 7 - Pretend & Descend (Part II)

The glass doors of The Brew swung open on Wednesday afternoon and the four girls strode in, occupying their usual seats. Hanna Marin felt fabulous – at least that's what she told her reflection in the mirror before she left for school.

Emily was currently telling the girls about the mini-fight she and her girlfriend Paige had had the night before, and Aria was not the slightest bit reluctant to instantly supply her with relationship tips despite being the only single girl of the group. Spencer Hastings on the other hand was uncharacteristically quiet, simply nodding before she offered to fetch drinks for the others. Not that Hanna would mind her keeping her smart mouth shut for once.

Yesterday Spencer had caught her on her own in school again, and apologized for her recent inquisitive behavior. Apparently, Hanna's lecture in the girls' restrooms on Monday had left her feeling somewhat ashamed – probably not because it made her realize that she was being a bad friend but because the blonde had defeated her in her own game – and she was more than eager to sort things out between them. Whatsoever, the girl couldn't really believe that her brunette friend would actually drop the topic just like that. She would certainly not let her catch her off guard.

Furthermore, things with Caleb seemed to go better and better these days. Okay, one could argue that they were acting more like friends than lovers, but Hanna had managed to kiss him – the real deal kind of kiss – without instantly thinking of a certain other guy. She would probably be over her little faux pas by the end of next week or so.

"Of course I'd love to go to Stanford with her but I just don't know if it'll all work out the way she imagines it, you know? What if I get to go but it all turns out to be nightmare and-"

"Oh, Em, you're definitely overthinking this." Aria said in a soothing tone.

"You so are" Hanna agreed. "Look, if you really want to, you can get over everything."

"You would know." She could've sworn she heard Spencer mumble when she took a seat, setting the girls' beverages down on the small table.

"You are probably right." Emily admitted, looking over at Spencer. "Let's talk about something else. Spence, how's Toby? I haven't seen him around in a while."

"Oh, he's perfect. It's all going well." The brunette purred which earned her suspicious glances from both Hanna and Aria.

"Well, okay. He's a bit stressed out because we can't seem to find any new clues regarding his mom." She let out a sigh. "You know, it's times like this when I'm just _soo_ jealous of you, Han. I mean, your relationship with Caleb just seems completely flawless."

The blonde raised an eyebrow at that remark. "There's no such thing as a flawless relationship, Spence." She smiled sweetly, doubting that Spencer would say something like that without any ulterior motives.

"Come on, Han. Don't keep your secret from the less fortunate girls. What is it? Unconditional trust, honesty, whatever?" So much for an apology by Spencer Hastings. Hanna wouldn't let her get what she wanted this time, for sure. But a witty answer to this didn't seem to come to her too easily either.

"Look, Caleb and I are far from being the perfect couple. In fact, we fight all the time. About the same things, over and over again." She mumbled. "We probably just don't have problems of your intensity."

"Probably." Spencer shrugged. "Maybe we should all just keep our eyes open for other fish in the sea, you know, to add a little excitement to our lives again."

Emily gasped and even Hanna couldn't believe her ears. Was this still directed at her or did Spencer seriously consider dumping Toby? No, this was most definitely just another one of her endless mind games.

"Spencer, how could you even think about something like that?" Emily cried, her voice sounding like it had lost half of its intensity on the way from her throat to her mouth.

"Well, let's be realistic for a moment, shall we? Statistically speaking, only one of us is going to stay together with whom they are dating when they graduate, if even. And that spot has already been reserved by Hanna and Caleb, obviously." Spencer stated dryly. Hanna didn't bother to respond.

The door swung open and her eyes fluttered to the one person she didn't want to see, not now, not tomorrow, not next week, preferably not at all. But definitely not in this very moment. She quickly looked away after glancing over for what had felt like a mere second to her but Spencer had already caught a glimpse of her staring and turned to see what she had been so interested in that her expression froze. The brunette's eyes lit up and she quickly called out an offer that inflamed deep, throbbing hatred in Hanna's insides. "Wren, hey! Why don't you come over and sit with us for a moment?"

Wren had just finished his shift at Rosewood's hospital and two of his colleagues had persuaded him to grab some coffee with them before he went home. Reluctantly, he had agreed despite feeling like doing nothing apart from sitting in his apartment with the blinds shut, smoking and talking to his newly found friend and confidant, Tippy the parrot. He might have ignored Tippy's advice to call Hanna to find release from his misery but that certainly didn't mean that he didn't value her opinion highly.

He was just about to pay for his coffee when Brad, one of the other doctors, pointed out the four girls that were sitting in the corner to Robert and him and the two engaged in a discussion about which of them they'd like to ask out first.

"Yeah, she's cute and all but look at the blonde, dude. I wouldn't want to miss out on that one." Brad and Robert snickered like immature teenage boys and Wren had to clench his teeth to keep himself from blurting out something he might regret. When he caught Hanna glancing over at him whatsoever, he could not ignore his companions any longer.

"Ooooh, she's looking over. What do you think, Kingston? Would I have a chance with the blonde?"

"_You_? Don't be ridiculous." Wren hissed a bit too harshly.

Before the others could wonder about his strange behavior, Spencer Hastings turned around and smiled brightly at him, calling him over immediately, not even bothering to ask the girls for their Okays. Brad's jaw dropped down to his knees. "You know these chicks, Kingston? You lucky bastard. Go over and sit with them, this is a command. And if you find the time, tell the blonde that her next drink's on me, if she'd like that."

"Yeah, that's not going to happen, Williams. If anyone's going to buy Hanna another drink, that's going to be me." He flashed him a poisonous grin and – hesitantly nonetheless- headed over to the girls.

Hanna kept her gaze fixed on the floor until she decided that looking at him would seem a lot more normal. But how? A polite smile would probably be best. Hopefully, it did not look forced.

"How about you sit right there, next to Hanna?" Spencer proposed, her voice gushing with fake sweetness.

Hanna absentmindedly shifted in her seat and simply smiled at him awkwardly whereas Emily and Aria included politely mumbled "Hi"'s. As he sat down next to the blonde, he could not help but feel their stares on him, their confusion about his company fairly obvious. Hanna was all of a sudden very interested in her low fat latte, staring down to the bottom of the cup before taking four short sips within 30 seconds. She was wearing the same Gucci perfume she had worn last Friday – not that he had searched every local perfume shop for the sweetly-sophisticated scent that filled his nostrils yet again, in all probability on a mission to cloud his mind.

"So, Wren" Spencer broke the awkward silence that was beginning to emerge. "You took that bird in, right? I never knew you were a bird person."

"Yeah, neither did I." He replied dryly and sipped on his coffee, glancing over at Hanna. "The fact that I was half-asleep when I decided to take her in might explain a lot."

Hanna could not help but smile over this, Friday morning's embarrassing phone call playing back in her mind. She had made a complete fool of herself, but in the end she had gotten lucky anyway. Not because of what happened at night but… or… ugh, whatever. Her mind was working overtime but her body wouldn't even tell it what she was thinking before it was out of her mouth.

"Tippy isn't causing you any trouble, is she?" She asked, biting her lip in honest worry. After all, her mom had made her get rid of the parrot due to the sleepless nights it gave them. An endlessly babbling bird surely wouldn't do Wren's messed up sleeping schedule any good.

"Certainly not." Wren smiled brightly at her, utterly relieved that she was addressing him and therefore resolving the awkwardness between them. "I'd say we're mates by now." He chuckled softly and Hanna didn't care to suppress a giggle either, not the slightest bit minding her friends or their confused looks.

"I'm glad. You know, I probably should have told you why I had to get rid of her in the first place. I feel so bad because I didn't. It's just that she kept us up all night with these…" The girl started, unable to think of the word she was looking for. The way he sat there right next to her made her nervous again all of a sudden, as well as the girls surrounding them, eyeing her as if this conversation was the oddest thing they had ever heard. She should not have started talking to him like this in the first place; now how weird did that make her look?

"Oh, the dialing noises?" He asked and Hanna responded with a nervous nod, suddenly avoiding eye contact again. Spencer smirked at the two of them like the marionette player in the Disney version of Pinocchio, more than pleased with herself and the way her little puppets danced for her.

"Yeah, she used to do those a lot but it's getting better now. And well, she sleeps when I do." Wren shrugged and looked down at his hand, unsure how to deal with the girl's sudden change of attitude.

Spencer cleared her throat and opened her mouth to speak when – unexpectedly being an understatement – Mona Vanderwaal walked straight up to the girls, her low fat soy latte in hand.

"Seriously, girls? Hanna is the only one who's thoughtful enough to get something low fat? What a disappointment. Even you, Spencer? I have to admit I expected more from a Hastings." She took a sip from her cup and looked the group up and down, all of them too dumbstruck to reply. Her gaze lingered on Wren for a moment before it jumped back to Hanna and she addressed her with a sweet but honest smile on her face.

"Han, would you mind accompanying me to the bathroom for a moment?" She purred and held out her hand for her to take. The blonde took her hand and got up, not wasting any time on pondering the situation. The only thought that crossed her mind was Mona being her savior and she realized how badly she wanted to get away from this table, no matter what the cost.

An obviously pleased with herself Mona Vanderwaal and a dazed and confused Hanna Marin quickly made their way to the restrooms. Some preppy douchebag who was sitting at the table next to theirs wolf-whistled when they passed him, but Hanna did not even bother to turn around. Mona opened the door and closed it behind Hanna as soon as they had both stepped inside. She checked every bathroom stall to make sure they could speak in privacy, and while she was at it, Hanna suddenly had an idea.

She could not really understand why she actually considered it but from one minute to the next, the urge had awoken inside of her to tell someone about her little mistake that involved a certain surgeon who was currently sipping coffee in the company of her friends, and she wanted to tell no one other than Mona, her former BFF. Quite frankly, this whole plan did not seem to make a lot of sense but what was the worst thing that could happen? For some reason, she could not imagine that Mona would actually spill her dirty little secret just like that, and even if she did, no one could take the relief of having gotten such a burden off of her chest away from her. Even if Caleb found out and decided to leave her, this whole matter would at least be sorted out, once and for all.

She was going to wait for Mona to tell her what was on her mind first and then she would just get it out. Quick, painless and easy.

The brunette motioned Hanna to join her at the paper towels and started speaking, keeping her voice low and hushed despite their lack of unwanted company and eavesdroppers. Or had Spencer followed them and was now waiting for her to act with precipitation? No, she was seriously getting a tad bit too paranoid these days.

"That guy you were sitting with, wasn't he a doctor at Radley?" Mona asked, sounding as cool and unconcerned as ever.

"Wren? Yeah, he used to work there." Hanna mumbled. She had not expected Mona's part of the conversation to be about him, to be honest. Had seeing him freaked her out enough to make her flee to the girl's room with Hanna? "Speaking of Wren…" The blonde began but Mona wasn't willing to let her choose the topic just yet.

"He's not assigned to stalk me, right? Because I don't give a fuck about what I'll have to do to stay out of Radley, whatever happens, they will _not_ get me to go back there." She hissed and her tone managed to make Hanna shutter for a split second.

"Mona, chill. He definitely isn't. He quit a while ago, when he realized that he'd rather be a cardiothoracic surgeon than a psychiatrist after all." Hanna tried to calm the girl who was giving her a furious look. It was surprising how clearly she still remembered what Wren had told her about his career in between songs.

"Good." The brunette breathed in sharply and stared at her reflection in the smeary mirror, covered in doodles of lovers' names, before she started to fix her already flawless hair.

"I just thought I'd recognized him before and well, obviously, I was right. I think I liked him. He was nicer than some of the other doctors there, at least. Also, he's kind of hot, right? Far too hot for the evil Hastings witches, for sure. I wonder what he ever saw in those two." Her lips formed a frown and her hands let go of her hair when she turned to face Hanna directly.

"You know, he'd look so much better with _you._ You should totally make a move on him, I'm sure he'd be more than pleased to go out with someone of your league. Plus he might supply you with some fancy pills from time to time." Mona smirked at her and raised an eyebrow suggestively.

"Mon, I…"

"How about we go shopping? I really think we need to have some fun together again, it's about time." Having that said, Mona's hand shot to the doorknob and she had stepped out of the bathroom before Hanna had even been able to turn around.

During Hanna's absence from the table, Spencer had tried to engage Wren in another awkward conversation regarding the blonde he had spent last Friday night with until Aria and Emily started to pity him and intervened with some small talk. He had never been more thankful to be able to talk about the most common things like the weather or his job. After a good five minutes that had felt more like five hours to him, he decided it was time for him to leave. Sure, he had hoped to get a chance to catch Hanna on her own for a moment but he seemed to have missed out on that one this time.

"So, I better get back to the guys." He said apologetically and got up, quickly turning around. "It's been a pleasure, ladies." He gave Emily and Aria a slight smile together with a nod and walked off, completely ignoring Spencer who was sitting in the opposite corner.

Robert and Brad were sitting at the next table and Rob greeted him with a low and sympathetic "Back already?" before Brad took the floor, as was his habit.

"I'm guessing you didn't tell the blonde about my offer?" Wren leaned against the half-wall that separated their table from the others with one shoulder and rolled his eyes.

"No, I didn't and I never will. Just keep your nasty hands off her, will you?" He snapped, an overwhelming and surely poisonous broth of anger and jealousy boiling up in his insides. It just wasn't fair. Could he not fall for a girl he could actually have for once? Or was he secretly a sick, twisted masochist who lacked the capacity to show any interest in all the single ladies? If Hanna was actually going to break up with Caleb, would that mean this excruciating longing, this sickening need to be with her, this maddening want to kiss her and hold her and touch her, would abruptly vanish, just like that? No, that was absurd. It was about time to face the facts. He was madly in love with Hanna Marin and he couldn't stand being on her hook much longer, fully aware that the longer she kept him waiting just to dump him after all, the more fatal the damage would be he'd be left to deal with all alone.

"Wow, calm your tits, Kingston. I guess she's not even into me. Sad but true. She didn't even turn to look at me when she passed me and I wolf-whistled. She must have been looking at you earlier." Brad shrugged and motioned him to sit down but Wren couldn't stand his company right now. In fact, he couldn't stand anyone's company. He just needed to get out of this café for now.

"I'm sorry, I just – I could really use some fresh air, if you'll excuse me." Not willing to wait for one of Brad's oh so witty responses and Robert's usual silence, he rushed out of the door and turned left, only to lean against the wall a few steps from it. He lit up a cigarette, the hot smoke filling his lungs within seconds. Not a day had passed since Saturday that he got through without his nicotine fix to keep his thoughts from wandering off to the only person he ever thought about lately.

Without any words of further explanation, Hanna walked past her friends with Mona, only glancing over for less than a second to notice that Wren had left. What a relief. Maybe that was some sort of universal sign, wanting to tell her to keep quiet about their secret. Mona stepped outside and held the door open for her, only to hold her back as soon as she had set foot on the pavement as well, staring at something to her left. She signaled Hanna to look with a slight nod and what had formerly been relief turned into a sickeningly sweet mixture of confusion, helplessness, indecision, as well as relief of some kind.

The way Wren was standing there, cigarette in hand, his eyes glimmering with a certain kind of sadness, his expression undecipherable, yet dominated by a hint of depression, somewhat reminded her of James Dean in Rebel Without A Cause, a movie she annually watched with Aria for a reason neither of them could still recall. Probably because they sometimes felt just as out of place as the main characters – or at least they used to. Did they still? Who knew.

"You should go talk to him." Mona whispered, making her snap out of her trance.

"What? No. Can we just go?" Hanna moaned, but Mona felt like it was just the right time for a sneaky little change of plans.

"No. Go have a nice little chit chat." She smirked and in the blink of an eye, Hanna found herself being pushed in Wren's direction, who had luckily turned just in time to catch her.

"Hi. Sorry." The girl breathed, clinging onto his shirt to help keep her from falling further forward, her fingers digging deep into the fabric.

"Hi." Wren beamed, his hand gripping her waist tightly, although she was already standing steadily again.

"Shouldn't you know better?" The blonde giggled, letting go of his v-neck and pointing at the cigarette he still held in his free hand.

Wren chuckled, making the burned ashes fall down to the ground. "It's not as bad as everyone makes it out to be."

"Of course. You're a doctor, you know what you're talking about." She mocked him playfully, completely forgetting about Mona who was watching them from a few steps away, unable to hear what they were talking about whatsoever.

For a little while, the two were completely silent, only smiling at each other until the girl lowered her gaze again. Wren realized that this might be the only chance he would get to ask her all the questions that had been burning in his mind for the past days and took a shot at it.

"Uhm, Hanna, can I – if you – can I talk to you for a moment?" His voice sounded almost pleadingly.

"Please?" He added, his desperation clearly audible due to Hanna's obvious hesitation.

"Sure." She finally said, letting a slight sigh slip out with her answer.

Wren quickly took another drag from his cigarette before he resumed speaking. "Okay, look, uhm." He clutched his hand to his forehand and glanced up at the blue but cloudy sky as if the words he was looking for were hovering right above him. He had either memorized them awfully quickly or they simply were not there because he looked right back into Hanna's eyes, their color seemingly matching the blue he had just seen and collected himself, clearing his throat.

"Hanna, I really don't want to bother you and it's honestly not my intention to rush, you should take all the time you need, but it's just –"

The addressed found herself violently chewing on her lip in the meantime, considering possible responses in advance. She should just tell him that she would stay with Caleb, shouldn't she? Yes, definitely. But in non-hurtful way, if that was even possible. The thought of disappointing her one-night-stand who was looking at her with these sad, desperate eyes like a lost little puppy made her stomach cringe. Actually, absolutely every little thing about him made her stomach cringe. The way he could not look at her non-stop, the way he moved his hands to calm himself down, the way his accent made his voice sound even softer and more soothing, simply the fact that he was a grown man with a doctorate who could hardly form two whole sentences in a row when he was trying to talk to her ever since they had slept together made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside, as strange as it was.

"I really need to know if I even have a chance with you still. And honestly, I'd love to give you all the time in the world but frankly, I can't take it much longer. I just, I don't think I can." He shook his head and brought his cigarette back to his lips, avoiding eye contact.

Once the cloud of smoke he had blown out again had passed her, Hanna had thought up a perfectly adequate but nonetheless tender way to let him down. Her mouth didn't seem to cooperate with her, though.

"Wren, I really don't want you to feel like you're wasting your time because of me. I'm sorry about that. It's just that I really need some more time." She took a deep breath and sighed.

This wasn't what she had wanted to tell him, not at all. But how he was standing there in front of her had neither done her mind nor her feelings any good. She usually didn't find smoking hot or anything but he made it look attractive. Apparently, Hanna's nose even considered the way it made him smell somewhat pleasing.

"It's just that this whole thing with Caleb – it's complicated, you know? I just don't know how I'm supposed to deal with this, I still need to figure a lot of things out, but please, don't give up on me already. I swear it won't take me much longer." She practically pleaded, unable to believe her own ears.

Was that really her, the fabulous Hanna Marin, saying all of that bullshit? Well, there was more than just a spark of truth in it, as much as she hated to admit it. It looked like she wouldn't be able to move on just like that after all. Did she even want to? Well, duh. It would be absolutely mental to dump Caleb for this guy she spent just one night with and whom she knew virtually nothing about, right?

"Alright then." Wren nodded and gave her a weak smile, flicking his burnt down cigarette away.

"Okay." Hanna mumbled.

A sudden heat took hold of her entire body and before she even knew it, she was pressing her lips against his. She had her left hand placed on his chest whereas her other one had risen up to his cheek. In an instant, Wren kissed her back, his hand moving up to her cheek as well, softly stroking it with his thumb. His lips felt longing and demanding and Hanna got lost in the taste of coffee and cigarettes until a slow clap coming from no one other than Mona Vanderwaal, who was still observing them, made her eye lids flutter open again.

She quickly pulled away; her heart pounding twice as fast as it normally did, frantically hoping that Mona had been the only one around to see them.

"I, uhm, I really have to go." She breathed, not yet able to move whatsoever. Her hands still wouldn't let go of him, no matter how badly she wanted to get away.

Wren, on the other hand, was so fascinated with how starry eyed she looked at him that Mona got a bit bored with the pair and walked up to them. In the blink of an eye, she had grabbed Hanna's arm and pulled her away without giving her any time for a goodbye, leaving a more than mildly astonished Wren to ponder the recent events on his own. The confused – and therefore tremendously adorable- look on his face made the blonde want to run straight back into his arms, but Mona certainly would not let that happen.

In fact, the brunette was still holding Hanna's arm when she leaned closer to her ear to murmur: "Leave him wanting you hard. Good job, hon."

"What?" Hanna whispered back absentmindedly.

"I knew you'd take my advice. And now it's time to shop." Mona cheered and let go of her arm. "Oh, just one more thing: Why is he looking at you like that?"

"Like what?"

"Like he's seen you naked." Mona stated, her eyebrows arched together.

"Because I slept with him last Friday." Hanna blurted out, seemingly choking on the words, and stood still.

Mona continued on walking for a few beats then stopped and turned to face Hanna, her facial expression neutral. "Repeat." she stated.

Taking a deep breath, Hanna opened her mouth to speak, her expression somewhat emotionless for a split second. "I slept with him last Friday." The girl sighed deeply before she continued. "Mon, I just - I just don't know what to do anymore."

"Okay." Mona stepped to stand in front of Hanna. "I will forgive you for not telling me this news immediately. But, only because I hope we'll start hanging out again." She smiled and put her hand on Hanna's arm. "But we simply must talk about this, asap. Like, right now."

"Hey, don't complain. You're still the first one to even hear about this." Hanna smiled weakly, automatically thinking back to when it was absolutely normal that Mona was the first (and only) one she shared her secrets with. "I guess the time has come to get this off my chest, the sooner the better."

"And who better to tell than the amazing Mona Vanderwaal!" Mona smiled wider and laughed, taking Hanna's hand naturally and resuming their walk. "You've picked the right person to confess to, dear. Very smart choice."

"I hope so." Hanna mumbled, her voice barely audible. Certain doubts about Mona's reliabilities crept back into her mind but she quickly brushed them away. Maybe things could go back to the way they were before between them after all. "Naturally, you are aware that you are not supposed to tell anyone about this." She stated dryly.

"Oh, of course. That's a given. And I think we all learned that it's better off when secrets are kept as secrets until we actually want them to be told. After all, if we're going to get back together we're going to need some things to talk about between just us." Mona talked excitedly, her expression lighting up with happiness. "I've really missed you, you know."

"To be honest, I guess I've missed you, too." Hanna gave her a somewhat shy smile and squeezed her hand. "Okay, we should get started with this certain little secret, though, before I lose courage once and for all." She giggled silently. It felt almost too good to be in Mona's company again.

"Oh, yes! We mustn't let the window of opportunity pass us over on this juicy little tidbit." Mona chuckled softly. "So tell me. How was it?" She raised her eyebrows suggestively and grinned a little.

"Also," Mona paused a second, seemingly gathering her thoughts, "how did you even hook up with him? How much older than us is he? Seriously, I need to know everything."

Hanna rolled her eyes, grinning back at her. This was such an obvious Mona move, she had actually seen it coming. "It was amazing. Like seriously, it was kind of brilliant." Her smile grew wider and wider as she continued to speak, even though she wasn't aware of it. "Well, it's actually kind of a funny story. I went to his place to give him this parrot my mom wanted out of the house and then we realized we liked the same music and ended up sitting on the floor, listening to our favorite bands and drinking whisky for like, a few hours, I guess. And well, then this song came on and he kissed me and well, _BOOM_." The blonde shrugged, biting her lip. "He's five years older, so... that isn't _that_ bad, right?"

"Oh la la. Whisky and romance. I like it." The pair stopped before crossing a street, waiting for the sign to say it is safe for them to walk. "Five years isn't too bad, I mean we are eighteen now after all. But, I say that whatever makes you happy goes. It's not worth it to hang around with people that don't like you for who you are."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Hanna swallowed hard, an alarming thought suddenly crossing her mind. Did Mona think she was single or was she not oblivious to the fact that she had cheated on Caleb for no good reason? Nervously fiddling around with the very bracelet she had lost during that certain night, she carried on. "Sadly, this thing comes with a whole wagon load of problems."

"Like the fact that you have a boyfriend?" Mona deadpanned. "Like I said, whatever makes you happy. You're not really that serious with him, are you? Have you ever talked with Caleb about if you're exclusive?"

"Uhm yeah, Mon, I'm pretty sure Caleb and I have decided on being exclusive quite a while ago." Hanna stuttered, surprised. "And I guess we're pretty damn serious and, well, I just don't think he deserves this. That's why I've decided to pretend last Friday night never even happened and stay with him."

"Obviously that isn't going so well if you're talking about it to me. We haven't really talked in ages, and this just pops out of your mouth at me? Sounds like your subconscious is telling you something." The light changed to allow the girls to cross the street but Mona waited for Hanna to move first.

Without a warning, tears filled Hanna's eyes and even the fact that she was in public couldn't stop her anymore from sobbing violently. Not having shed a single tear all this time had apparently taken its toll on her. "Look, Mona, I just - I just can't deal with this anymore. I can't hurt Caleb like this and I've tried _so_ hard to bring myself to forget Wren but you've witnessed how well that has turned out so far. And by now, it seems like, no matter what I do, someone's going to end up getting hurt and I, I, oh God, I'm just such a horrible person. Oh, and Spencer caught me leaving Wren's apartment on Saturday morning and ever since then she's been playing these morbid little mind games with me and - oh God, Mona, how do I get out of this?" By now, her mascara was running down her cheeks, leaving dark grey streaks on its way down her chin.

Mona stepped back to her friend and pulled a tissue from her L. Credi bag, then gently wiped Hanna's cheeks, her expression completely softened by the reaction she had been given. "Shh. Let's go inside somewhere. We can sit and talk. Okay?" Mona smiled a little, offering another clean tissue to her friend. "And remind me later to have a chat with Spencer. Dark and conniving is my thing, she can't have it." Mona tried to get Hanna to smile, even the tiniest bit.

"Okay." Hanna croaked, her voice suffering hard from all the sobbing. In fact, her lips actually formed the slightest hint of a smile when she took the tissue from her former BFF and quickly wiped away as many tears as she dared to, too afraid to worsen her already severely damaged look.

Mona guided Hanna to a bench and sat down close to her. "Now, come here." She took a few more tissues and digged a water bottle out of her bag. "We have to fix this before I can talk serious to you." She poured a little bit of water on a tissue and gently dabbed at Hanna's cheeks. "Close your eyes, hon."

Despite the state she was in, Hanna couldn't help but giggle softly when she closed her eyes. "Thank you. You're... you're a good friend, Mona." She bit her lip, suppressing a few more sobs that made her whole body shake.

"No more crying, okay? Promise. A little bit is allowed, but we have to return to our diva state." Mona smiled as she cleaned Hanna's face of any makeup. "That's better," She handed Hanna the water bottle, "drink up. Re-hydrate. Then we'll talk." Mona smiled, the words Hanna offered her warming her heart. She truly hoped she could convince Hanna to forgive her of her past sins against their friendship. Maybe helping Hanna work through her problems would help.

"You're right. We're too fabulous for tears, aren't we?" Hanna grinned. After taking a few sips from the bottle, she closed her eyes to take one final deep breath. "Okay, I'm ready. Let's talk." She chimed, breathing out calmly and slowly.

Mona sat silently for a moment, watching Hanna compose herself. "Let's start with the easy. Where do you see yourself being in ten years, even five years? Don't think about anyone else, just you. Where do you want to be in life?"

Wanting to visualize her dream future as realistically as possible, Hanna closed her eyes again, humming for a moment. "Okay, in five years, I want to have graduated from the fashion institute. I'll be working for a popular designer, preferably in New York. Then again, in ten years, I should have managed to be the head designer of the brand. Or I might even found my own label. Wouldn't that be the most awesome thing ever?" She beamed and opened her eyes again, smiling at Mona from ear to ear.

"It would be." Mona smiled back, feeling accomplished by helping her friend's mood turn around. "You'd be really good at it, too. The business aspect of it all." Mona paused, letting that sink in before continuing. "Keep that in mind, close your eyes. Visualize it. Who do you see there in New York with you? Who are you coming home to?"

Obediently, Hanna's lids fluttered shut again, a tingling sensation building up in her stomach. She saw the door to her apartment in Manhattan swing open in front of her and quite frankly, every little detail about it felt real. She didn't only _see_ the apartment; she could smell its scent and hear its typical sounds. She abruptly opened her eyes again, running her hand through her hair to keep herself from freaking out. "Oh God, Mona. It smells like disinfectant and Broken Social Scene is playing when I step inside." She was breathing as if she had actually just fled from her future apartment and taken all the stairs down to get out of the skyscraper.

Trying to keep her expressions neutral, but hopeful for her friend, Mona carried on: "So, now you know the guy. Right?" a smile slipped onto her lips "Now we just need to figure out how to get him and only him. I think you should just be frank with the other guy, honestly. Explain it, of course. I don't see us together in my future or something like that, be nice but not too sappy." Mona waves her hands in gestures as she talks, becoming animated as she helps her friend work through her woes.

Hanna nodded, unable to let go of all her doubts whatsoever. "But... what if he won't be in my future either way?" She whispered, clearing her throat. "What if I leave Caleb and then- I mean, Wren has already figured out what to do with his life, in fact he's doing what he wants to do right now and well, maybe he doesn't want to give up what he has here for me when the time comes. Caleb, on the other hand... This is just too- No, I can't take this risk, I just can't." Her voice had risen drastically throughout this realization and her breathing still wasn't back to normal.

"If you don't take the chance, then you'll settle for what won't make you as happy as you can be." Mona's voice was soft, as if she was calling a scared animal to come back to her. "You deserve the chance to be so extremely happy every day that all you want to do is celebrate your life. If Wren makes you feel that way, then you should at least try to have it."

"But what if it doesn't last?" Hanna squeaked, looking down at her hands. "How can I even know that he actually makes me feel that way when I hardly even know him? Well okay, to be fair, I do know quite some things about him but - I'm sure you get my point. What if this is just me being a horny little slut, about to make the worst mistake I could possibly make? Can you promise me that this is not going to happen?"

Mona pressed her lips together in concentration before answering, then slowly replied. "When you saw your future apartment, you didn't say you saw him. Just that it smelled like disinfectant and Brocken Social Scene was playing. How did that mean it was Wren you'd be going home to? To be fair, your subconscious must be telling you which thing you prefer. If it was Caleb, leather would have chocked you to death." she couldn't help but chuckle a bit "And honestly, you're a little more mature than a horny little slut. I mean, you know where you want to be in your career and you're pursuing that. Where's the guarantee that you'll make it in the fashion industry? Trust. That's what. What makes romances any different?"

Hanna sighed, slowly but surely calming down again. "Well yeah, no leather. And I can't stand the smell of disinfectant, but he makes it smell incredibly pleasing. And to top it all off, Broken Social Scene was playing when I first set foot into his apartment. It was Wren; there is no doubt about that." She let out a hollow laugh and closed her eyes again, immediately seeing herself walk into her future bedroom where a fairly disheveled Wren, who had apparently just woken up, greeted her with a boyish grin and pulled her down onto the bed with him. She quickly snapped back out of her little fantasy. "You can't have romance all planned out. You can't have anything planned out where other people are that deeply involved. It's too unpredictable."

"How will you ever know what would really happen unless if you give it a shot? You have to plant a flower to let it bloom." Mona smiled and leaned back, knowing now that she had done her job sufficiently, she had planted the seed. "Anyways, are we still going shopping?"

"I guess that might just be the best method to get my mind off of this mayhem." The blonde giggled slightly and got up. "Thank you, Mona. For all of this." She bit her lip, unsure whether to simply go for it or not, before she pulled the girl into a tight hug.

Mona hugged back immediately, wrapping her arms around her best friend tightly. "It's nothing, really. I've been bored, nothing much to do lately. You fixed that dilemma for me." She giggled a little and took Hanna's hand again. "Where shall we go?"

"Up to you. That's the least I can offer you as compensation for the precious time I stole from you with my horrifying love life" Hanna grinned. "You totally have to tell me about yours later, by the way. I haven't heard of any guy in your life after Noel." She raised an eyebrow suggestively.

"After hearing about your love triangle, I should strive to stay away from anything with a cock and testicles." Mona rolled her eyes, „there's no one, and I honestly don't mind it at all." The pair finally crossed the street and went right into the King James Mall. "Tiffany's for old time's sake?"

"Or you could just take one of my guys from me and we can all be happily ever after." Hanna suggested nonchalantly, but soon burst out laughing. "Tiffany's sounds perfect to me."

Pulling Hanna behind her, Mona walked - chuckling only a bit at Hanna's suggestion - into the store and went straight for the sunglasses. "Remember?" Mona grinned. "I bet you couldn't still pull it off."

"Seriously? You're trying to put up an emotionally instable girl with a past habit of shoplifting to theft? I am very disappointed in you, Ms. Vanderwaal." Hanna teased.

"It would get your mind off things, for sure." Mona perused through the options, moving on to the diamond jewelry. "I've done it a few times, here and there," she whispered, "just to make sure I've still got it in me to perform."

"Oh really?" Hanna asked sarcastically. "Watch and learn." As inconspicuously as possible, she grabbed the pair of sunglasses she liked the most and strode off to the counter, seemingly interested in a diamond necklace located right next to the engagement rings.

Mona watched from the corner of her eye, then ushered a boy behind the counter over to her in order for him to show her a piece under the glass.

In the meantime, Hanna had thought of a way to have what was still visible of her puffy face and red eyes work for her and was completely in character once she addressed another shop assistant.

"Excuse me, could I take a look at this necklace perhaps?" She sniffed, her voice shaky.

"Of course, Miss. Are you alright?" The lady behind the counter showed her the necklace, looking at her worryingly.

"Oh yes, no worries. It's just," Hanna looked away and took a deep breath, her eyes beginning to water, "my granddad passed away last night and I'm buying this to wear at his funeral." She sobbed, shaking her hand as if she was trying to hold back the tears. "I'm sorry, I'm alright, I'm alright." The blonde took another deep breath and reached out for the necklace. The shop assistant quickly handed her a tissue and Hanna dabbed her fake tears away. "Thank you. Do you have matching earrings for this?" Her lip quivered and she gripped the tissue tightly.

"We do, in the back. Let me just get them for you real quick." The woman gave Hanna a reassuring smile and disappeared.

Hanna let the necklace glide through her fingers before she put it back and probed the sunglasses up in her hair.

She took a good look at the earrings after they'd been laid out to be shown to her, slightly blowing her nose, before she gave the shop assistant a weak smile. "I'm afraid I can't buy these now. Don't get me wrong, they are lovely but I can't purchase such beautiful things for such a- such a sad occasion. Wouldn't that be kind of… morbid?" She sobbed. "I'm so sorry that I've wasted your time."

"Oh no, no worries, Miss. Just come back once you feel better. My condolences, by the way. Do you want me to put these aside for you?"

"No, thank you, that won't be necessary." Hanna shook her head and turned to go. "Have a good day." She pulled the sunglasses on, headed to the door and stepped out of the shop, Mona following her a few steps behind.

"I hope you took notes." Hanna smirked and threw the tissue into the nearest trash can.

"Impressive." Mona gave her an acknowledging nod. "Now, how about we hit up some more stores and later, we could head over to my parent's brand new beach house. Only if you want to, of course."

Hanna did not even need to take the time to think this offer through that would obviously come with a fair amount of trouble attached to it. "Count me in."


End file.
